Five Things You Must Know to Expand Your Business and Make it More Profitable

by A. Ray Thomas

You don’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to expand your business globally! With the numerous resources and methods available through ZANA Business Network, expanding into the international marketplace may be easier than you realize. If you’re like most small business owners, you’ve entertained visions of running a successful company that meets increasing customer demand for your product or service. Maybe you’ve dreamed of regional, national or international expansion that would garner huge profits. That this is a typical entrepreneur’s dream is not surprising. What may shock you is that only four percent of American businesses export their products and services around the world. That translates to about 230,000 companies that do business overseas. No doubt, the percentage is low compared to other countries because many small and midsize companies don’t seriously consider international trade for the following reasons: • They are doing well domestically and don’t see a need to market overseas. • They don’t know the economic and political climates, the culture or the language in other countries. • They assume that international transactions are too risky. Now, these are all valid concerns and if you share any of them, you may be surprised to know that you can find everything you need to enter the inter-national marketplace from the U.S. government – including support. The key is making sure you do your homework beforehand. Here are five global marketing tips that will help you determine if going global is right for you and your company. If you would like to dig deeper to learn how you can access more ways to go global, become a free member simply by visiting our website: www.zananetwork.com. Global Marketing Tip No. 1: Utilize Government Resources to Identify Opportunities and Support Tools There are many U.S. government resources that SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) should utilize prior to exporting their goods and services. No doubt, through them you will find numerous international trade opportunities in developed and emerging markets. Many small businesses in developed and emerging markets are constantly looking to partner and do business with American companies. You will find free access to these government websites all in one easy to use portal (see location below). • Department of State • Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) • Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) • U.S. Export Assistance Center • U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service • International Trade Administration, • U.S. Department of Commerce • Office of Intellectual Property Rights, U.S. Department of Commerce • Caribbean-Central American Action (CCAA) Global Marketing Tip No. 2: Know the Benefits of Emerging and Developed Markets In emerging markets, there are privatization opportunities due to governments divesting from state-owned firms. In addition, there are often high rates of growth. If a market doesn’t have what you’re selling, that could be an excellent opportunity to export new consumer goods to that market. Even better, the greatest opportunities in emerging markets are with small businesses looking for partners for joint ventures to import and export. Now naturally, developed markets in English-speaking countries, such as Canada, Mexico and England, are often recommended for SMEs just starting out. These particular countries fall under the North American Free Trade Agreement, so the rules and regulations help with strategy. Beginning in a developed country will be far more comfortable for you and your business. Global Marketing Tip No. 3: Consider Becoming a Sub-Supplier to a Larger Company In emerging markets, there is often a high demand for infrastructure projects, such as waste disposal and energy. Think about it. The larger companies often come into these regions first for these jobs, but they need suppliers. These projects often last years and allow you to become part of the supply chain. It is also a good way to test the marketplace while mitigating your risk. Identify the Risks The perception is that greater risk comes with international trade. In actuality, the risks are just different. Government agencies and thousands of companies offer tools to help you, as well as propose other areas of concern that you may not have contemplated. Know this: The more questions you ask your resources, the better prepared you are to market your products and services internationally. Below are just a few areas you need to consider: • Time and distance it takes to ship products • Making sure that you’re going to get paid for the transaction • The political climate • Restrictive trade policies • Calculating your sale properly so that you don’t lose on foreign exchange • The local legal practices of a foreign country Global Marketing Tip No. 4: Know Who Your Foreign Partners Are It is important that you get to know your foreign customers or partners. You will want to pre-qualify them by using international credit-report services through companies, such as Atradius or Dun & Bradstreet (available via ZANA Business Network). You will also want to know if they have lawsuits against them in their country, including liens. Global Marketing Tip No. 5: Use the U.S. Government Resources, Foreign Commercial Service, State Department and the Various Publications That Are Available Make it your business to be briefed on the local political and business community, which is fairly small and closed. In addition, you will want to know who your U.S. contacts are in that country, should you need their help. Follow these global marketing tips and leave your competitors to battle each other for the limited profits. And now we would like to invite you to claim your free membership and the opportunity to market your products, services and ideas at no cost when you go to http://www.zananetwork.com Are you a small to medium business that is tired of struggling to market your products, services and ideas globally? Do you want to maximize your global business opportunities? Now you can! Combine your business talents with the power of Global Internet Marketing and watch your income soar! Visit http://www.zananetwork.com and join the new revolution of international business.

Article source: ArticlePros.com

Security System Assessment

By techdoc

In assessing the minimum levels of proactive, reactive and preventative security initiatives required by law or considered to be desirable by an organization or individual we must first undertake an information gathering process. After we have collected enough information to give us adequate understanding of the specifics of the systems involved we need to equate this into both a subjective view and a technical requirements statement.

With this done, we move on to the major system design decision making phase. Elements that are most pertinent and require firm decisions to be made here include:

· Identifying what must be protected including regulatory requirements, local by-laws, emergency services requirements and guidelines, insurance compliance considerations, taxation concerns

· Now to identify what assets/resources are worth protecting (including sentimental motivations)

· Identify who or what you desire to be protected from

· Identify what you wish you could protect This will include sentimental motivations and “pie-in-the-sky objects (you never know what was once impractical may now fall into the realm of perfectly acceptable and cost effective to implement.

· How much protection is enough including risk mitigation and insurance

· Risk/threat and occurrence/impact analysis

· A risk/impact matrix used in conjunction with regulatory guidelines make very useful tools for accomplishing the production of a prioritized list of risks, threats, exploits, occurrence ratios, relative occurrence ratios. They can also be used in the evaluation of an event or type of event’s degree/severity of impact on an incident by incident and event impact.

· Produce a security roadmap so that you don’t lose sight of the big picture and where you want to go. Doing so will enable you to keep track of where you are, what has been done and what is to follow

Major considerations will concern such factors as ecommerce, Payment Card Industry (PCI) regulations and requirements, privacy laws and regulations, holding and retention requirements (particularly tax legislation), communications including email, messaging and telecommunications, Internet presence and persistence (website security, availability and accessibility), hosting services and hosted services, database (security, availability and accessibility) both onsite and offsite storage (security, availability and accessibility), security policy review

Content Source: Security System Assessment - Bukisa.com

Three Key Elements to an Effective Marketing Campaign

Author: Robert Johnston

"Creativity is an outstanding asset, especially in the business world. Not everybody possesses creativity, so it is extremely valuable. Most companies face so much competition that it takes a creative idea to make them stand out from the pack. Creativity contributes to your business success at every step along the way. It helps to build a more effective business plan; it boosts your ability to bring in customers after opening; and it usually makes for a better product. When it comes to marketing your company, however, creativity just is not enough. Creativity is one part of your strategy – in fact, a major part – but it cannot produce results on its own. I like to say that there are three key elements involved in an effective marketing strategy: creativity, quality, and persistence. Each element is essential, because an advertising campaign that lacks even one of them will almost surely fail. Creativity As I mentioned earlier, creativity is very important. It will certainly play a major role in the development of your company’s “brand”, or identity with customers. Your logo and overall company image will benefit greatly from a healthy dose of creativity. Use the benefits of creativity in every aspect of your advertising. In your television ads, flyers, posters, even in your business card printing, use the elements that have been designed by your creative department to add a stunning visual element to your efforts. Quality Again, if any one of the three key elements is missing from your marketing campaign, it will fail. Imagine if you had a brilliantly creative design for a business card printing, and you were persistent in handing them out, but you had them printed yourself on cheap paper. The quality suffers, and so does the power of your business cards. When you hand your cheap, low-quality card to a customer, they almost instantly reject you. Do not skimp on costs when you get your advertising literature printed. The initial expense will quickly be forgotten when the increased revenues start rolling in down the road. Persistence Sometimes, even a creative and quality advertising idea does not catch on right away. But if you are persistent, more often than not it will pay off. Keep trying until you either succeed or get sick of the campaign. Persistence is the one element that is most often overlooked. Many companies panic when their marketing campaign does not take off the way the anticipated. If they would stick with it, though, and continue to let their creativity and quality speak for them, they would see positive results in the end. As you plan your next marketing strategy, remember the key three elements: creativity, quality, and persistence. Be careful not to leave one out.

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Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/three-key-elements-to-an-effective-marketing-campaign-730782.html