Rockets forward Dillon Brooks — who made waves during last year’s Grizzlies-Lakers playoff series when he “poked the bear” that is LeBron James — isn’t changing his approach leading into their rematch Wednesday in Houston.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday that he plans to sign into law a pair of climate-focused bills intended to force major corporations to be more transparent about greenhouse gas emissions and the financial risks stemming from global warming.
Newsom’s announcement came during an out-of-state trip to New York’s Climate Week, where world leaders in business, politics and the arts are gathered to seek solutions for climate change.
California lawmakers last week passed legislation requiring large businesses from oil and gas companies to retail giants to disclose their direct greenhouse gas emissions as well as those that come from activities like employee business travel.
CA INTRODUCES CLIMATE BILL THAT WOULD MAKE COMPANIES DISCLOSE THEIR GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
Such disclosures are a “simple but intensely powerful driver of decarbonization,” said the bill’s author, state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat.
“This legislation will support those companies doing their part to tackle the climate crisis and create accountability for those that aren’t,” Wiener said in a statement Sunday applauding Newsom’s decision.
Under the law, thousands of public and private businesses that operate in California and make more than $1 billion annually will have to make the emissions disclosures. The goal is to increase transparency and nudge companies to evaluate how they can cut their carbon emissions.
The second bill approved last week by the state Assembly requires companies making more than $500 million annually to disclose what financial risks climate change poses to their businesses and how they plan to address those risks.
CALIFORNIA’S GRID FACES COLLAPSE AS LEADERS PUSH RENEWABLES, ELECTRIC VEHICLES, EXPERTS SAY
State Sen. Henry Stern, a Democrat from Los Angeles who introduced the legislation, said the information would be useful for individuals and lawmakers when making public and private investment decisions. The bill was changed recently to require companies to begin reporting the information in 2026, instead of 2024, and mandate that they report every other year, instead of annually.
Newsom, a Democrat, said he wants California to lead the nation in addressing the climate crisis. “We need to exercise not just our formal authority, but we need to share our moral authority more abundantly,” he said.
Newsom’s office announced Saturday that California has filed a lawsuit against some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, claiming they deceived the public about the risks of fossil fuels now faulted for climate change-related storms and wildfires that caused billions of dollars in damage.
The civil lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in San Francisco also seeks the creation of a fund — financed by the companies — to pay for recovery efforts following devastating storms and fires.
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The Athletics have reached a tentative agreement with Nevada state and local officials on a plan to bring the franchise from Oakland to Las Vegas. The post A's, Nevada reach tentative deal on Vegas plan appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.
The Athletics have reached a tentative agreement with Nevada state and local officials on a plan to bring the franchise from Oakland to Las Vegas.
The post A's, Nevada reach tentative deal on Vegas plan appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.
A mental health crisis among children in Illinois will be fought by streamlining and easing access to necessary treatment and coordinating between six separate state agencies, Gov. J.B. Pritzker plans to announce Friday.
A report examining the capacity and condition of Illinois’ response to behavioral health in young people has been in the works for nearly a year. It sketches avenues to help families understand mental illness, then make it easier for them to get required care without wrangling among disparate state agencies. A copy of the report was obtained in advance by The Associated Press.
“It’s all really geared toward creating an experience for families, where the boundaries between those different state agencies that are there to serve them are less visible,” said Dana Weiner, whom Pritzker tabbed for the initiative. She is on loan from the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, where she is senior policy fellow.
“What families (should) experience is a simplified, centralized, clear way to get access to services to understand what their children are struggling with and to identify the things that might help address those challenges,” Weiner.
ILLINOIS WORKER DIES AFTER BECOMING TRAPPED IN FLOODED UNDERGROUND VAULT
The deterioration of mental health among children predates the COVID-19 pandemic. But with the spread of the coronavirus the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2021 found 44% of American children had depressive episodes lasting at least two weeks and nearly half had thought about suicide, according to the report.
Friday’s announcement marks the beginning of work to ready the plan for implementation, a report on which Pritzker expects by October. There’s $22.8 million in the governor’s fiscal 2024 budget proposal to complete the planning.
The report identifies technological, practical, legislative and other means for marshaling the expertise among the Departments of Human Services, Children and Family Services, Juvenile Justice, Healthcare and Family Services, Public Health and the State Board of Education.
ILLINOIS MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN RACING CRASH THAT KILLED 2 COLLEGE STUDENTS
The program must be agile for responding to changing needs, given the volatility of mental illness, the report says. It suggests widespread screening of children which might telegraph future suffering and emphasizes the necessity of early intervention.
Recognizing problems quickly is critical, Weiner said. The U.S. Surgeon General discovered in a 2021 study that on average, there is an 11-year gap between recognizing a child’s potential mental health issue and that child getting treatment.
“I’m optimistic because in all of the cases that I’ve listened to and worked on over the last year, there are opportunities to intervene earlier when problems aren’t as severe,” Weiner said. “We can reduce the number of false starts or missed opportunities.”
At the same time, the report recognizes the need to provide incentives to draw people to the field, both by making education more attainable but also drawing upon paraprofessionals or aides to conduct critical work which doesn’t need extensive formal education. With worker shortages hampering many sectors, finding qualified people to fill crucial roles might be one of the effort’s bigger challenges.
But help is available in existing “touch points” in children’s lives — teachers and pediatricians, for example, as well as parents, Weiner said. It doesn’t mean the teacher is the health care provider, but is the recipient of the necessary information to be able to refer a child who needs help.
Asked for her message to parents of troubled children, Weiner said, “We are going to make this easier for you to care for your children and to obtain needed services as well as important information to help you understand how to keep your kids healthy and strong.”
The head of Formula One’s governing body on Sunday strongly supported a proposed new Andretti Cadillac all-American team and said he was surprised by “adverse reaction” to the plan.
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When a customer interacts with your brand on your website, on social media channels, or in person, they should have a cohesive experience.
From brand voice to visual identity, everything should be aligned with your company’s mission, values, and goals.
This approach is called integrated marketing communications (IMC).
As more and more customers use three or more channels to research a brand, integrated marketing communications are becoming more and more important.
WSo what are integrated marketing communications, and why do they work so well? In this blog post, we’ll answer those questions and give you some tips on how to create your own integrated marketing communications plan.
The goal of integrated marketing communications is to create a consistent message and brand identity that customers will recognize across all channels.
This requires a coordinated effort that includes all aspects of marketing, from advertising and public relations to sales and customer service.
For example, if a customer sees an ad for your product on TV, hears about it on the radio, and then visits your website, they should have the same experience.
Your message should be consistent across all channels, and each channel should work together to support the others.
Why is this important?
Well, in a world where 77 percent of B2B buyers spend time researching purchases online and purchase frequency is 250 percent higher on omnichannel vs. single-channel shopping, you need to make sure your message is getting through, loud and clear.
An integrated marketing communications plan will help you do just that by bringing all of your marketing efforts together into one cohesive strategy.
Integrated marketing communications campaigns work because they provide a consistent message across all channels that are reinforced with each interaction.
This type of marketing allows you to control the conversation about your brand and ensure that your target audience is seeing the same message no matter where they encounter your brand—–whether it’s through paid advertising, social media, or even in person.
Plus, integrated marketing communications campaigns are often more cost-effective than single-channel campaigns because you can leverage existing content and assets across multiple channels.
Key benefits of an integrated marketing communications plan:
If that’s not enough, research from the Harvard Business Review found that customers who use omnichannel shopping spend 10 percent % more online and four4 percent % more in-store than single-channel customers.
Looking for your next great integrated marketing communications campaign? Check out these examples for inspiration.
The “Whassup?” campaign by Budweiser first aired during Monday Night Football in 1999. The campaign featured characters answering the phone saying, “Whassup?” in a comical, slurred way.
While the internet was still in its infancy, Budweiser became a pioneer by directing viewers to its website.
On the website, visitors could learn how to say “Whassup” in over 30 different languages! With this new marketing campaign, only one phrase increased visitors to Budweiser’s website and sealed the integrated marketing communications campaign’s efficacy.
The campaign was a success and won the Cannes Grand Prix award as well as the Grand Clio award. The catchphrase was also featured in pop-culture hits such as Scary Movie (2000), Friends (2003), The Simpsons (2002, 2005), and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2008).
For the 2020 Super BowlSuperbowl, Budweiser brought this campaign back in a pandemic-themed re-make titled, “Whassup again?”
Another integrated marketing communications campaign example success story comes from Domino’s Pizza.
ToIn order to increase digital orders, Domino’s created AnyWare, which allows customers to order pizza through various platforms such as a tweet, text, Ford Sync, Smart TVs, and smartwatches.
Each new way to order was introduced with its own press release and driven to the DominosAnyWare.com website.
In 2015, Dominos also launched a national TV ad campaign featuring celebrities arguing that their way of ordering was the best.
To date, the AnyWare campaign has generated 2 billion earned media impressions including spots on The Ellen Show, Jimmy Fallon, and The Today Show. The TV campaigns generated 10.5 percent year-over-year growth for the brand.
To promote the theatertheatre release of 20th Century Fox and Ridley Scott’s, “The Martian” in 2015, a prologue campaign was created to increase awareness and excitement.
The goal of the “The Martian” prologue campaign was to build box office hype around the new film.
An integrated marketing communications strategy was built to be consumed on a variety of channels including, but not limited to: social media, video, celebrity endorsements, and traditional PR and marketing efforts.
The campaigns included a mock episode of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk from the year 2035, an Under Armour campaign showing “The Martian”‘s main character, Mark Watney, as a superathlete of the future, and mock-declassified NASA footage showing each character going through psychological testing before heading out into space.
The Martian opened number one at the box offices and had the second-highest fall opening of all time. It was also the number one movie in the U.S. for four4 weeks.
If you want to create an integrated marketing communications plan that highlights the best of your brand, here are a few key steps you need to take.
Before you start developing your communications plan, you must takeit’s important that you take the time to get to know your audience.
Consider demographic factors, such as education level, gender, income, age, race, and geographic location. Then, think about behavioral and psychological traits, including things like interests, hobbies, and values.
Take demographic factors like education level, income, age, race, gender, and geographic location into consideration. Don’t forget about psychological and behavioral traits like values, hobbies, and interests.
Creating a customer profile that is specifically tailored to your ideal customer will help you make better decisions about your marketing campaign.
In some cases, you may have more than one customer profile for a given campaign. Sometimes, you may have multiple customer profiles for one campaign. In that case, it’s important to segment your audience so that you can tailor your message to each group.
For example, if you’re marketing a new line of environmentally-friendly cleaning products, you might have one customer profile that is interested in saving money and another that is interested in saving the planet.
Tailoring your message to each group will help you create an integrated marketing communications plan that highlights the best of your brand.
Let’s face it, you might not be in a position to hire Neil deGrasse Tyson, NASA, and Under Armour in your first integrated marketing communications campaign.
But tThat doesn’t mean you can’t create a strong, compelling message.
The key is to set a realistic budget and then allocate your resources accordingly.
If you have a limited budget, focus on creating high-quality content that can be distributed across multiple channels.
If you have a larger budget, look for high-profile partnerships, influencer marketing, and other paid media opportunities.
In either case, make sure you have a clear plan for how you will spend your money and what your limits are.
One of the most important parts of creating an integrated marketing communications plan is understanding what makes your brand unique.
Answering these questions will help you develop a strong unique selling proposition (USP), which will be a key component of your communications strategy.
Once you have your USP, make sure it is front and center in all of your marketing materials.
It should be the through-line that ties together your various communications channels and provides a consistent message to your target audience.
For example, if you are a luxury car brand like Audi, your USP might be “Luxurious and comfortable cars delivering excellent engine performance.”
Make sure this message is clear in your advertising, social media posts, website content, and any other marketing collateral.
If you’re selling running shoes like Nike, your USP might be “The best shoes for athletes and fitness.”
Again, this should be a consistent message across all of your communications channels.
Your USP will be the foundation of your integrated marketing communications strategy, so take the time to develop it thoughtfully.
Once you know who you’re speaking to and what you want to say, you need to decide which channels you’ll use to reach your target audience.
This will be different for every business, but some common options include:
Once you decide on overarching channels, you’ll also need to determine which specific tactics you’ll use on each platform.
For example, if you’re using Facebook to reach your target audience, will you primarily rely on organic posts or paid ads? If you’re using email marketing, what sort of content will you include in your newsletters?
Asking yourself these types of questions will help you create a more comprehensive and effective IMC strategy.
While your brand voice needs to be consistent across all channels, the way you actually communicate with your audience will vary depending on the platform you’re using.
For example, the messaging you use in a Facebook ad will be different from than the messaging you use in an email newsletter.
Your tone might also change depending on whether you’re trying to build awareness, generate leads or drive sales.
Keep this in mind as you create your content calendar and start to populate it with messaging that’s in line with your brand voice and the goals of each individual piece.
Here are two examples from sneaker company No Bull, which uses different messaging styles on Facebook ads versus Twitter posts.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>About to take on the week like…<br>Congrats on a great finish in Dubai, Tola!<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/IAMNOBULL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#IAMNOBULL</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/JustTheHorns?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#JustTheHorns</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/BehindTheHorns?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#BehindTheHorns</a> <a href=”https://t.co/RqlABILona”>pic.twitter.com/RqlABILona</a></p>— NOBULL (@justthehorns) <a href=”https://twitter.com/justthehorns/status/1206646654989783047?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>December 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
You’re almost ready to start putting your IMC plan into action, but first, you need to set some targets and goals. Consider the following:
Attaching numbers to your objectives is a good way to measure progress. For example, if one of your goals is to increase brand awareness, you could measure this by tracking the number of mentions your brand receives online.
Or, if you’re looking to improve customer satisfaction, you could survey your customers after they’ve made a purchase.
Other goals can include:
Once you have some goals and targets in mind, it’s time to start putting your integrated marketing communications plan into action!
Once your integrated marketing communications campaign is up and running, it’s important to track progress and optimize along the way.
Analytics are key in understanding what’s working and what’s not.
Be sure to keep an eye on your campaign goals and KPIs, and adjust as necessary. If you’re not seeing the results you want, don’t be afraid to change things up.
For example, let’s imagine you’re running an email campaign as part of your integrated marketing communications plan.
You might want to track metrics such as:
If your open or click-through rates are low, you might want to consider changing up your subject lines or email content.
Or, if you’re seeing higher than average unsubscribe rates, that could be an indication that your content is not relevant to your audience.
It’s important to constantly test and measure the performance of your campaigns so that you can make necessary adjustments to ensure success. By doing so, you’ll be able to create an integrated marketing communications plan that highlights the best of your brand.
Integrated marketing communication is an approach to marketing that uses all aspects of a company’s communication channels to deliver a consistent message.
The benefit of an integrated marketing communications plan is to ensure that all of a company’s marketing efforts are working together in harmony to deliver a consistent message.
There are five main ways to market your product or service. They are advertising, direct marketing, internet marketing, sales promotion, and public relations. All of these methods can be used together to create a harmonious marketing plan.
Yes, integrated marketing communication plans can help drive ROI by ensuring that all marketing efforts are working together to deliver a consistent message. This will result in increased brand awareness and customer loyalty, which will lead to increased sales and profits.
An integrated marketing communications plan is the key to success for any company.
By creating a plan that outlines the main ways to market your company and product, you can ensure that all of your marketing efforts are working together to deliver a consistent message.
This can result in increased brand awareness and customer loyalty, which can lead to increased sales and profits.
The end result? A more successful company that is better able to compete in today’s marketplace.
How have you found success with integrated marketing communications?
The internet has transformed the advertising industry. Traditionally hard-to-measure channels like TV, billboards, and sponsorships are being pushed to the wayside by cheap, trackable online advertising channels like social media ads, display, and paid search ads. This shift is democratizing the industry. Even the smallest brands can compete on the same platform as multinationals if … Continue reading Online Advertising for Business: Creating the Perfect Plan That Gets the Customers You Want
The internet has transformed the advertising industry. Traditionally hard-to-measure channels like TV, billboards, and sponsorships are being pushed to the wayside by cheap, trackable online advertising channels like social media ads, display, and paid search ads.
This shift is democratizing the industry. Even the smallest brands can compete on the same platform as multinationals if they have the right knowledge, ad creatives, and targeting. If you want to grow your business, online advertising should be the first place you start.
I’ll show you how you can do just that in this guide. You’ll learn why online advertising is so beneficial, the best online advertising channels to use and how to create an online advertising campaign from scratch.
Online advertising is a hugely popular strategy, with almost two of every three small businesses using it to win new customers. Spending won’t decrease any time soon, either. Global online advertising spend is predicted to hit $646 billion by 2024, up from $378.16 billion in 2020.
Online advertising is a form of paid-for marketing that leverages internet-based channels to promote products and services. There are plenty of online advertising channels to choose from, including search engines like Google or Bing, social media platforms, and display ads, banner ads, and native ads.
Unlike traditional advertising mediums, the cost of online advertising is low. Small businesses can generate hundreds of new customers for just a couple hundred bucks a month. Online advertising is more measurable, too. Every channel can be tracked, measured, and optimized, so marketers squeeze as much ROI from their campaigns as possible.
Such are the benefits of online advertising, companies are increasingly dedicating more and more of their budget to digital channels.
As you can see in this infographic from Visual Capitalist, there have been sharp falls in newspaper and TV advertising spending, while search, social media, online video, and e-commerce spending has increased dramatically since the early 2000s.
However big your business, online advertising is one of the best ways to build a brand, win new customers, and grow revenue. It has many advantages over traditional forms of advertising and other forms of online marketing, but there are four big benefits I want to highlight.
When you advertise online, you don’t have to wait months, weeks, or even days to get rewarded for your efforts. Sales can happen as soon as your ads go live.
This is unlike virtually any other form of marketing—traditional or otherwise. With SEO, for instance, it takes an average of about three months for a page to rank well on Google. Social media accounts tend to grow between 9.4 percent and 16 percent every six months.
The speed at which you see results doesn’t just help you win customers and drive revenue faster, it also helps you optimize campaigns quicker. Because you get data so fast, however, you’re able to optimize your campaigns to maximize ROI much faster. What takes six months or more with SEO, takes just three months with paid ads.
This is vital because optimizing PPC campaigns can double your ROI or more. Easton Sports, for example, doubled its ROI from 400 percent to 900 percent by working with e-commerce marketing agency The Good.
Forget broad, mass-market ads that aim to please everyone. Online advertising lets you drill down into your target market and know with confidence that every dollar of your budget is being spent on them. That’s the kind of targeting traditional advertising can never compete with.
Most online advertising channels offer granular targeting, allowing you to focus your efforts on a small segment of their audience. Facebook lets you customize your target audience by dozens of criteria, including:
As a result, you don’t have to worry about wasting your advertising budget on people who aren’t interested in your product. If you have strong buyer personas, you can target them with ease. Even if you don’t have buyer personas, granular targeting makes it easy to identify profitable segments of a large audience.
Better still, online advertising allows you to reach millions of people every day. Facebook has almost three billion monthly active users. Google processes around 63,000 queries every second. No other advertising medium lets your average joe business reach audiences of this size.
You won’t be forking over millions in advertising fees to reach targeted audiences. Unlike traditional advertising—where it can cost over $100,000 to run a 30-second TV advert—the cost of online advertising is incredibly low.
It costs, on average, just $3 to $10 to reach 1000 people with online advertising, compared to $22 to reach 1000 people using traditional methods. While your mom and pop retailer can’t hope to afford a TV advert, they can run a successful online advertising campaign on Facebook, Google, or any other channel.
You can limit the cost of your online advertising, too. The vast majority of online ad platforms will let you set a limit on your total and budgets, so you don’t blow everything at once.
The worst thing about traditional forms of advertising like print, TV, or radio is that it’s tough to work out how well your campaign performed. That’s not the case with online advertising, where most channels show you exactly how well your ads performed.
Typically, online advertising channels will show how many people saw and clicked your ad, how many sales your ad resulted in, and many, many more metrics.
This data is gold. First, it allows you to measure ROI to see whether your online advertising is delivering a return.
Second, you can use that data to optimize your campaigns and make them even more profitable. With it, you can understand why your ad performed well or poorly and what you can change to improve your ROI in the future.
Below are the main types of online advertising you need to know
Paid search is one of the most important online advertising channels. The vast majority of all online interactions start with a search engine—which makes it one of the best places to target potential customers.
Google is the dominant force in paid search advertising, which is unsurprising given it currently enjoys an 85 percent global market share. Other search engines like Bing and DuckDuckGo also offer paid ad solutions.
Paid ads come in two models: pay per click and CPM. With pay per click, brands pay every time someone clicks on their ads. With CPM, brands pay a set cost per thousand views.
They are usually positioned at the top of search result pages, as you can see below. They may also feature at the bottom of result pages and in separate tabs, like the Shopping tab.
Paid search offers some of the best targeting available to online advertisers. Brands can target specific keywords, destinations, devices, and more. This allows them to create highly relevant ads that can return an average ROAS of 200 percent.
That comes at a cost, however. Paid search ads are some of the most expensive you can buy. The average CPC of Google Ads is between $1 and $2. Averages can rise much higher in some industries like law—where the average CPC is more than $6.
Pros:
Cons:
Social media advertising is huge. It is the second biggest digital advertising market with revenues of $153.7 billion in 2021. That’s expected to grow to $252.6 billion in 2026.
Consumers are obsessed with social media, too. Over half of the world’s population use some form of social media and the average person uses it for 2 hours and 27 minutes every day.
Every major social media platform has an advertising offering, including:
Ad formats vary depending on the platform, but the vast majority will be a form of in-feed ad. Facebook, for example, has four main ad formats.
The cost of social media ads will also vary depending on the platform. As you can see in this table by WebFX, LinkedIn and Instagram are two of the most expensive platforms with average CPCs north of $3. Facebook and Twitter tend to be the cheapest.
Pros:
Cons:
Native ads don’t feel like they’re ads at all. Brands partner with publishers to create sponsored content that provides a lot of value to the reader while subtly promoting your business. The content is published on the partner’s site and distributed as normal. The idea is that users read the content and get value from it without feeling like they’re being sold to. It’s a win-win.
Here’s an example of a typical native ad on Fast Company. Note the small “paid content” disclaimer in the top right-hand corner.
Native ads can be very effective.
It’s been shown the softer touch of native ads can result in five to ten times higher CTRs than direct response ads. Native ads can be expensive, however. Major publications charge as much as $200,000 to get featured.
The vast majority of major publishers will offer some form of sponsored content or native ad package, making it easy for your brand to get featured in dozens of high-quality publications.
Pros:
Cons:
Display advertising is one of the most common forms of online advertising. In fact, it’s probably the one that came to mind when you saw the title of this article. Display ads come in many forms, including banner ads, in-content ads, side-bar ads, and popups.
Below you can see an example of a banner display ad on Digiday.
There are multiple ad platforms that brands can work with to run these ads. Popular platforms include:
Display ads are one of the most cost-effective forms of online advertising, costing as little as $0.50 per click. There’s a trade-off, however, as display ads typically have some of the lowest CTRs of any online ad.
Pros:
Cons:
Retargeting ads are much more effective than standard display ads.
That’s because consumers rarely make a purchase the first time they land on your website. When you show them the same products that previously caught their eye, they’ll be more likely to eventually make a purchase.
That’s where retargeting ads come in. This is a form of display ad that only targets people who have landed on your website and left without making a purchase.
Retargeting ads can appear on any website that shows display ads, as well as Facebook and Google. The cost of retargeting ads will depend on where they are displayed. The average cost of retargeting ads on Google, for example, is $0.66 to $1.23 per click. Display retargeting ads will be much cheaper.
Pros:
Cons:
Affiliate advertising is where a brand partners with a third-party (usually a publisher or influencer) to promote its products or services. Rather than an upfront payment, third-party gets paid a commission every time they refer a customer to the brand.
Affiliate advertising is a rapidly growing market and is expected to be worth $8.2 billion in the U.S. in 2022.
The cost of affiliate marketing can vary dramatically depending on the industry you operate in and the third parties you partner with. Commission rates vary between $3 and $200 and can be as low as 1 percent per sale or as high as 60 percent.
Pros:
Cons:
Video ads are an increasingly popular form of video-based advertising. The most common form of video ads are YouTube ads, but other video platforms like Vimeo host ads, too.
The potential reach of video ads is huge. On YouTube alone, consumers watch more than one billion hours of videos every day. YouTube also ranks second in monthly user numbers for social network platforms and is the world’s second-largest search engine.
They are cost-effective, too. YouTube ads have an average cost-per-view between $0.01 and $0.03. It costs around $2000 to reach 100,000 users.
Pros:
Cons:
The steps to create an online advertising strategy will be broadly similar regardless of your business, product, or service. You start by setting goals, defining your target audience, and assigning a budget. Next, you pick a channel and create ads. Then it’s simply a case of launching and optimizing as necessary.
You should always set goals for your online advertising campaign. Having a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your strategy and how you measure those goals will keep you on track, increasing the likelihood of success.
One study found that 76 percent of people who wrote goals down, made a list of actions, and ran weekly progress reports achieved their goals.
Making more sales is a typical online advertising strategy goal, but it’s not the only one. Others include:
Whatever your goal, make sure it follows the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) framework.
Instead of saying you want to acquire new customers with your Google Ads campaign, state that you want to acquire 1000 customers in one month by spending $5,000 on ads.
With a goal in place, it’s time to decide on your target audience. Who exactly do you want to reach with your ads?
As we’ve discussed, the beauty of online advertising is that you can target an incredibly specific audience. It’s time to take advantage of that. Consider things like:
Make sure you account for your goals. If you want to acquire tens of thousands of customers, you’re going to have to cast a broad net. If your aims are more modest, you can afford to be more specific.
Assigning an appropriate budget is essential for any online advertising campaign. It will define how much you can spend and, to a lesser extent, which channels you can advertise on. I recommend basing your budget on a variety of factors, including:
You don’t want to blow your budget on one campaign. Nor do you want to assign a tiny budget if you want the campaign to run for six months.
While you should always establish a budget upfront, be prepared to be flexible with that budget. The immediacy with which you can see results is another advantage of online marketing, so you should be prepared to increase the budget if you see success.
Now that you have a set of goals, a target audience, and a budget, you can finally decide which channel you want to advertise on. The truth is you probably already have a paid advertising channel in mind.
That’s fine, but it’s important to make sure it matches your goals, budget, and audience. Budget-wise, advertising on Google Search can be incredibly expensive for certain keywords.
The average cost per click for keywords related to the insurance industry was $20.12 in 2021, for instance. If you don’t have the appropriate budget, you’re better off choosing another channel.
Similarly, there’s no point in advertising on Google if your goal is to increase your social media following. Or advertising on Facebook if most of your customers use TikTok instead.
If it’s your first time launching an online advertising campaign, stick to one channel. It will make creating ads and setting up the campaign a lot easier. You can start to advertise on multiple paid marketing channels when you get a few campaigns under your belt.
This step is going to vary quite a bit by your chosen paid ad channel. In the case of Google Search ads, you’ll need to write ad copy. For display ads, on the other hand, you’ll need to design an image. Whatever channel you use, the bulk of your efforts should be spent here.
For example, if you’re advertising on Google Ads, improving your Quality Score can make a huge difference. This is a measure of how relevant your ad and landing page are. It’s been found that an above-average Quality Score can result in a 50 percent discount on your cost per click. Low-Quality Scores, on the other hand, can result in you paying four times as much.
Spending time improving your ad copy can also increase your clickthrough rates, as I show in my ad copy guide.
Creating an online advertising campaign doesn’t stop once you’ve hit launch. The wealth of data that these channels provide means you can start optimizing your campaign almost immediately.
Review your ad dashboard daily after launch and look for ways to optimize your campaign. Common strategies include:
You can also pivot your campaign entirely if things aren’t working out. There’s no point wasting budget on a campaign that isn’t generating any return. Instead, pick another paid channel and launch a new campaign.
Note: Don’t worry if this section seems overwhelming. You can work with an online advertising agency that will handle the entire process for you.
Launching your first online advertising campaign is just the start. Once you’ve got a few campaigns under your belt, you can start to experiment with advanced strategies like the ones below to supercharge your results.
You don’t need to spend money on anything else apart from your budget to see results with online advertising. There are marketing tools for almost every channel that can enhance your campaign and help you generate even more ROI.
Find and utilize these tools wherever possible. My keyword research tool, Ubersuggest, is a great example of a tool that can help you improve your paid ad campaigns by getting access to high-quality keyword data. This is useful if you want to make sure you’re targeting every relevant high-value keyword in your Google PPC campaign.
Head on over to Ubersuggest and click on the keywords dropdown in the left menu bar. Enter a keyword in the “Discover new keywords” bar. For this example, I’m going to use the keyword “digital marketing agency.”
Hit search, and you’ll be served hundreds of relevant and related keyword ideas. You can export the keywords as a CSV file and add them to Google Ads immediately. Or you can filter them to make them even more relevant.
For example, say I don’t want to target any keywords with a CPC higher than $20. By clicking on the CPC filter and entering between $0 and $20, I can filter them all out.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg of what you can do with a tool like Ubersuggest. For more help, see my complete Ubersuggest guide.
Automated bidding will feel like a lifesaver if you’re not confident in setting bids and optimizing campaigns. Google is the best-known ad platform for automated bidding, but plenty of others like Microsoft and Facebook offer some kind of automated or smart bidding service, too.
Google offers two forms of automatic bidding: a standard automated bidding service and a smart bidding service that uses machine learning to optimize for conversions. You can target five goals when using automated bidding on Google:
The benefit of automated bidding is two-fold. First, you don’t have to worry about setting the right bids and can focus instead on other parts of the campaign. Second, Google will probably do a better job of setting bids than you.
For instance, T-Mobile boosted conversions by 22 percent, decreased cost per acquisition by 27 percent, and increased conversion rate by 23 percent by switching to automated bidding on Google.
Personalization should be part of every marketing strategy—and your online advertising campaign is no different. More than half of customers (60 percent) say they’re more likely to become repeat buyers after a personalized experience.
Thankfully, Facebook makes this easy with its dynamic formats and creative solution.
When you use dynamic formats and creative, you create a personalized experience for every person who sees your ad. Facebook will automatically change certain elements of your ad to suit the user’s tastes. These elements include:
The benefits of hyper-personalized online advertising can be massive. Facebook tested the dynamic formats and creative solutions across 12 online stores and found they increased views, add-to-carts, purchases, and sales. There was also a 34 percent increase in incremental ROAS, a 10 percent improvement in lift, and a six percent decrease in cost per incremental purchase.
Most retargeting strategies focus on trying to convert consumers who have visited your site but not made a purchase. Let’s flip conventional wisdom on its head and focus on converting customers who have already bought from you.
Here’s the theory: it costs five times as much to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. You’d be better off turning one-off customers into repeat buyers rather than converting new customers.
Retargeting ads are also the perfect vehicle for these messages. According to an IAB survey, 92 percent of marketers believe retargeting ads perform the same as or better than search, 91 percent believe they perform the same as or better than email, and 92 percent believe they perform the same as or better than other display ads.
How should you re-target customers? I recommend three strategies:
I’ve got bad news for you. Everyone is advertising on Facebook. Most of your competitors are also probably advertising on Google, too. Ditto for display ads. Competitors with bigger budgets will target the same audience and the same keywords. That doesn’t bode well for you.
Better ads and more optimized campaigns are two ways to stand apart from the competition, but an easier way is to advertise on platforms where your competitors don’t.
Instead of Google, run search ads on Bing or even DuckDuckGo. Read my guide on Bing for advice on how to do it.
There are plenty of other alternative ad platforms that don’t get the love they deserve. Quora is an excellent source of engaged and highly targeted users ripe for being served great ads. Motley Fool Australia used Quora to increase leads by 111 percent and lower CPAs by 47 percent, for instance.
My guide to Quora is a great place to start.
Your marketing budget should be between 2 percent and 5 percent of your revenue. The percentage of that budget you should dedicate to online advertising will depend on your other marketing strategies and your success with paid ads. The fewer other strategies you use and the more success you have, the more you can devote to online advertising.
Online advertising is any form of paid-for internet-based marketing. It includes PPC, social media ads, banner ads, display ads, video ads, and many other channels and formats.
There is no best type of online advertising. The best form of online advertising is the one that works best for your brand and audience, whether that’s search, social media, or something else entirely.
Any business with an online presence should consider online advertising. It’s cost-effective, highly measurable, and incredibly targeted, which makes it easy for any business to get started.
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Online advertising is an incredible marketing strategy. It’s cost-effective, easy to measure, and accessible to virtually every business, big or small. I hope this article has shown you how easy it is to get started, too.
Once you’re familiar with all of the different paid marketing channels, follow my step-by-step advice to create your first online advertising campaign. Once you’re comfortable, you can start experimenting with strategies to take your online advertising campaigns to the next level.
Which channel is your favorite for online advertising?
A credit plan for 2022—or for any year, is a way to better organize a necessary task, which is building business credit. A plan will help you save time and money. And you’ll avoid the frustrations of denials and delays.
It’s not one size fits all. There are measurable, qualitative differences between startups and seasoned businesses. And there are differences between businesses with just a year in business, and those with five years or more. We call these phases. Your options for credit and financing differ depending on phase.
You could conceivably just apply for credit willy-nilly. And you could hope that you’re doing it right. But a plan helps you bypass unnecessary delays. And it keeps you focused. Your eyes stay on the prize.
Every business begins as a Startup, phase 1. Your business might be just barely squeaking by. Once you’re past the startup stage and making money, you swing into Development, AKA phase 2. Now you’re making some money steadily. The Growth segment of your business’s life is phase 3, where you make more steady money and can afford to look past the next quarter or year.
Phase 4 is Maturity, where your business makes good, predictable money, hiring people, and expanding with ease. In this phase, you’re way past hanging by a thread. The final phase is 5, Exit. Here, you look to pass your business on, whether through sales or willing it to your heirs.
Where do you see your business in, say, a half a decade, or more?
All these scenarios require funding! Even going concerns with stable, steady revenue can experience emergencies, or need to seize a business opportunity quickly and before they have the funds. All businesses can use business credit to achieve their aims. Even if you’ve already been through some phases, checking out earlier phases could help you see if you missed anything. And if you’re just starting out, reviewing later phases could show you your business’s future so you can be prepared.
Setting up a business is a lot more than just saying you’re in business. The way the business is set up can directly affect the ability of your business to succeed. This first phase covers your first six to twelve months or so of existence. Let’s start with your brand new startup’s fundability
.
Fundability is a business’s ability to get funding. Much of the power to get business money is in your hands. A business starts with no credit profile. But nearly half of all companies fail in their first 5 years, and about 2/3 in the first 10. This means that new businesses don’t seem fundable to lenders. You can change that by building for fundability from the jump.
Let’s start with your business name. Always check with your Secretary of State—the name may have to be unique. Make sure your SOS has all necessary, up to date, and correct information for your company. Make sure that you are in good standing with them, and your entity is active. You have to file annual reports and pay an annual fee to stay active.
Keep the name of a high-risk or restricted industry out of your business name. Your business can be Amy’s rather than Amy’s Cannabis Dispensary. There is nothing underhanded about this. It is completely legitimate and honest.
A common reason for loan and credit card application denials is the lender can’t easily locate a business offline or online. So make it easy for lenders and credit providers to find your business. Make sure the business name is identical on corporation papers, licenses, utility statements, and bank statements. Also make sure the business name and all other information is the same on every online listing you can find. Keep it identical on all offline listings as well.
Your business must be a real brick and mortar building, a deliverable physical address. Hence it can never be a UPS box or a PO Box. Some lenders do not approve and fund unless this criterion is met. A virtual address can also be a good idea if you need to hold a meeting or an interview, as it’s a lot more professional than using your kitchen table. We like Regus, Davinci, and Alliance Virtual Offices. But keep in mind there are credit providers that do not accept virtual addresses.
Get a free EIN for your business and choose your business entity at IRS.gov. To truly separate business credit from personal credit your business must be a separate legal entity, not a sole proprietor or partnership. Only incorporating creates a new and separate entity. By default, this reduces your personal liability. Other entities (like partnerships) don’t. File with the Secretary of State for your state. Set up your entity in the same state as your business address.
The IRS website is also where you choose the NAICS code for your business. NAICS codes help the government collect, analyze, and publish statistical data on the business economy. For example, per the NAICS, the 484230 code covers Specialized Freight (except Used Goods) Trucking, Long-Distance. The 484110 code covers General Freight Trucking, Local. A trucking company which performs both functions could technically go with either code.
Neither 484230 nor 484110 is on the NAICS list of high risk and cash-intensive businesses. But that list is from 2014. According to the NAICS, they don’t have any current plans to update the list. High risk NAICS codes can affect your ability to get traditional loans, but other providers may be able to look beyond them.
It’s easy and inexpensive to set up a virtual local phone number or a toll free 800 number. A cell or home phone number as your main business line could make your business less fundable—but a VOIP is fine. And if you don’t want customers calling you on the road all day, do not use a personal cell phone as the business phone number. It also helps with fundability to have a dedicated business phone number. Your number needs a listing with 411 for most credit issuers and lenders to approve you. Check for your record to see if you’re listed and your information is accurate. No record? Then use ListYourself.net to get a listing.
Lenders and credit providers research your corporation on the internet. It is best if they learned everything directly from your corporate website. Because not having a professional website can hurt your chances of getting corporate credit. A Facebook page or a listing on Yelp is no substitute for an actual company website. You can buy web hosting from a hosting company like GoDaddy or HostGator.
Try to make your domain the same as your business name. Add a company email address on the same domain as your website. This often comes from a website domain provider, and may even be free with your hosting package. This is not just professional; it also greatly helps your chances of getting approval from a credit provider. Do not use Yahoo, AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, or similar kinds of email.
Contact state, county, and city government offices to see if there are any required licenses and permits to operate your business. Licensing requirements differ depending on state, town, and industry. Being fully licensed builds credibility in your business, and that can help you get more customers. Not being licensed can mean fines, and maybe even jail time. Don’t risk it and get your licensing!
You must have a bank account devoted strictly to your business. The IRS does not want you commingling funds. Make accounting easier and reduce the risk of audit at tax time. Keep personal and business funds separate. Having a business-only bank account makes that easy. Many vendors require that you open a business-only bank account. Use your EIN to open a bank account and to build a business credit profile. And while you’re at it, get a merchant account so you can accept credit cards from your customers.
Start with Dun & Bradstreet because they are—by far—the largest business CRA. Run a search for your business on D&B’s website. If you can’t find it, then you’ll need to get a free D-U-N-S number on the D&B site. A D-U-N-S number plus 3 payment experiences leads to a PAYDEX score. So you need a D-U-N-S number to start building business credit, plus it is another common vendor requirement. Once you are in D&B’s system, search Experian and Equifax’s sites for your business.
You get the most favorable funding by paying all bills on time, which means:
For Experian, historical behavior (payment history) is 5—10% of the total score. So make paying your company’s bills on time a cornerstone of your business credit building efforts.
Start with vendor accounts, a proven way to start building business credit. Vendor credit is generally not attached to a bank. So under federal law a Social Security number is not required. This is unlike bank loans and bank cards. So you can legitimately leave the SSN field blank, to force them to pull your business credit under your EIN.
Check out three of our favorite starter vendors for any industry:
All three report positive payment experiences with your company.
Reports to Equifax and Credit Safe. They had been reporting to D&B up till December 2020 but stated that they are working to restore that. Get low price electronic, and quality custom design and branding services. With The CEO Creative, you can create your own logo, business cards, business accessories, etc.
Membership fee includes access to all their products, and member discounts. Get access to web printing and graphic design at a discounted rate. You must pay an annual fee to run your business credit report and maintain monthly reporting. Membership fee is not reported to credit bureaus. Minimum order of $40 to report. Remember: reporting to D&B is on hold right now.
Your corporate entity must be in good standing with the applicable Secretary of State, and you must have an established business credit history. You also need:
You must pay a yearly membership fee of $69.00. Apply online or over the phone. Terms are Net 30.
They sell hardware, power tools, and more. And they also do fleet maintenance. They report to Dun and Bradstreet. In addition to their standard qualifications, if a business doesn’t have established credit, they want to see additional documents like accounts payable, income statement, balance sheets, etc. Terms for Grainger Industrial Supply are Net 30, Net 45, Net 60, or Net 90.
Your business entity must be in good standing with Secretary of State. You also need:
Your business must be registered to Secretary of State (SOS) for at least 60 days. Apply online or over the phone.
They sell shipping, packing and industrial supplies. Uline reports to Dun & Bradstreet and Experian. You MUST create an account with them before starting to build business credit with them. Terms are Net 30.
Your business entity must be in good standing with the Secretary of State. You also need:
Application may be approved for net 30 at time of order. Upon final review, Credit Department may change to a few prepaid orders before granting Net 30.
The idea is to help you qualify for business credit with cards that you will use. As you continue building, more time in business helps. But to get started, you may need to give a personal guarantee. That’s okay; that’s a part of the strategy.
When you provide a personal guarantee, you are adding your Social Security number to the application. So expect a hard inquiry. You’re also adding the details of your personal income to the application.
If you already have good personal credit, then you’re all set. But if not, you can work with a credit partner or guarantor. And never stop improving your personal credit, no matter what your FICO score is.
This is a form of unsecured funding. Our credit line hybrid has an even better interest rate than a secured loan. Get some of the highest loan amounts and credit lines for businesses. You can get 0% business credit cards with stated income. These report to business CRAs so you can build business credit at the same time. This gets you access to even more cash with no personal guarantee. You need a FICO credit score of at least 680 or a guarantor with good credit to get an approval. No financials are necessary.
This is not a loan. You do not have to pay an early withdrawal fee or a tax penalty. You put the money back by contributing, just like with any 401(k) program so you won’t lose your retirement funds. The IRS calls this a Rollover for Business Startups (ROBS), which is a separate entity with its own set of requirements. The plan, through its company stock investments, rather than the individual owns the trade or business.
This financing isn’t a loan against, your 401(k), so there’s no interest to pay and does not use the 401(k) or stocks as collateral. Instead, this is simply a movement or change of custodian. Your 401(k) must have over $35,000 in it and cannot be from a business where you are currently employed. You can get 401(k) financing even with severely challenged personal credit.
Some lenders make loans using securities (like stocks and bonds) as collateral. Securities-based lending provides ready access to capital. The only restrictions to this kind of lending are other securities-based transactions, like buying shares or repaying a margin loan. You continue to earn interest on stocks pledged as collateral. But you will have challenged personal credit.
Your business and its potential are assets. Selling off some business equity can take a few different forms. This depends on how much control you’re comfortable with ceding.
So talk to people you know about angel investing. Angels buy a smallish stake in your company. They usually don’t expect as big a return as venture capitalists do. VCs might also buy a stake, but they generally just want paradigm-changing businesses. Most straightforward industries won’t fill the bill unless your take on the industry is utterly unique. Another way to sell part of your equity is to take on another founder or partner.
Crowdfunding success isn’t guaranteed. And crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter take a percentage of any money you raise. But it can still be a way to get a cash infusion without giving up equity. If you’re exceptionally good online and have a compelling service and story, then you’re more likely to succeed than most people. Since crowdfunding campaigns are time-consuming, don’t start one unless your realistic chances of success are better than half.
Grants can come from the government or private businesses. So expect a lot of competition, difficult entry requirements, and not a lot of money. But it’s another way to get some cash without selling a chunk of your business. You may find there are few grants for your industry. But you still may be able to score grants based on the kind of entrepreneur you are, e. g. female, disabled, LGBTQ+, etc.
Right now, you have minimal Growth Monthly Revenue (GMR). So this is a fast paced growth plan. Throw it against the wall and take what you can get right now. Look at some short sighted daily and weekly goals for quick cash and growth. During this phase, your focus is on the essentials to create a viable business. Your goal is to build your consistent revenue to $10,000 per month and continue to improve your personal credit. Let’s move onto phase 2.
In Phase 2, start developing marketing. Currently, you’re at an aggressive sales pace adding nurture and longer sales cycles. Use medium term monthly growth planning (campaign to campaign). So it’s time for software implementation and system development. You’re building the blocks of how your business is going to be, now and in the future. This phase should run somewhere between the first 6—24 months from launch.
Your credit options multiply once you get to Phase 2, including:
As you continue to build exceptional business credit and pay your bills on time, credit providers trust you more. So you can get higher limits and better terms. And you can start to get business credit cards with no PG.
With no PG financing, you can continue building exceptional business credit and pay your bills on time. In general, any of the following eliminate the need to provide a personal guarantee:
Much like with any other kind of business borrowing, the more assurances you can give the lender, the better.
There are many vendors who do not report to the business credit reporting agencies unless you default. But they’re still a good idea, because credit can help you beyond business credit building. Not having to put up 100% of the costs of equipment or a building or anything else can help with budgeting. Credit can sometimes be the only way to take advantage of a limited time opportunity if you don’t have cash right now. And if your business credit cards offer rewards, cash back, or points, then using them is to your advantage
Vehicle financing can be a great way to get a business vehicle without having to wait until you can just pay cash for it. Note: business owners may be required to personally guarantee vehicle loans. And if you are a co-borrower, the loan most likely reports to your personal credit report. Some loans have a prepayment penalty. It is a good idea to have a loan proposal, detailing your business, loan needs, and financial statements. Here are a couple of vehicle financing choices from us.
Ford offers several commercial vehicle financing options. These include loans, lines, and leases to actual business entities and not sole proprietorships. Get a loan or a lease. Ford may ask for a PG if you are not approved on the merit of your application. Apply at the dealership. Ford reports to D&B, Experian, and Equifax.
Your business entity must be in good standing with the applicable Secretary of State. You also need:
Ally provides personal financing, but they also report to business credit bureaus. If your business qualifies for financing without the owner’s guarantee, you can get financing in the business name only. Ally reports to D&B, Experian, and Equifax.
Your business entity must be in good standing with your Secretary of State. You also need:
If you provide a PG, Ally does not report to the personal credit bureaus unless the account defaults.
Get a lease or a loan. You need most of the same things as you need for an Ally Commercial Line of Credit, except for a bank reference and fleet financing references. There is no minimum time in business requirement. Apply in person only; dealer will advise if approved or PG needed.
There are several tools that can help streamline managing small business finances. Options like Brex, Divvy, Expensify, Lola, and more are growing in popularity.
Brex and Divvy are business money management systems that integrate with your accounting software. You can track expenses and, depending on the level of service you choose, they also help with paying bills and controlling spending. Brex has a partnership with the FDIC and your funds are secure. Everyone that opens a Brex cash account gets a corporate card. Brex reports any payments to Dun & Bradstreet. Divvy reports to the Small Business Finance Exchange, which in turn provides data to all SBFE partners, including business credit bureaus.
In Phase 2, your funding options also increase, to:
An MCA technically isn’t a loan; it’s a cash advance based on the credit card sales of a business. A small business can apply for an MCA and have an advance deposited into its account quickly. So you can offer Net 30 terms but not have to wait a month to get paid. With an MCA you get funding based strictly on cash flow as verifiable per business bank statements. A lender mainly just wants to see consistent deposits.
You can technically qualify with only one year in business. But the annual revenue requirement is high enough that phase 2 should make more sense. You can raise capital from investors who get a percentage of the enterprise’s ongoing gross revenues in exchange for money invested until a predetermined amount is paid. Often this amount is between 3—5 times the original amount invested. Monthly payments fluctuate with revenue highs and lows and continue until you’ve paid back the loan in full.
Fundbox connects directly to your online accounting software when deciding to fund your business. You can get revolving line of credit for up to $100,000. Fundbox auto debits your weekly payment from your bank account. You don’t need to show a minimum personal credit score or a minimum time in business. But ideally Fundbox prefers 6 months in business or more.
Use a loan or lease to purchase or borrow hard assets for your business, equipment like a truck or a laptop. Pay predictable amounts every month. You can build business credit on a program like this.
Or you can lease equipment, rather than buy it outright. You often put down less money than if you were buying the equipment. You may be able to negotiate flexible terms with an equipment lease, and it’s easy to upgrade equipment after your lease ends. This is helpful if your equipment is something like a computer which quickly becomes obsolete.
If you already own your equipment free and clear, did you know that you can use that as collateral for financing? Sell the equipment to a lender for cash. And then lease it back from them. You can unlock Section 179 tax savings and depreciate your entire equipment purchase in the first year. You need at least one larger piece of higher value equipment to qualify.
If you have open invoices and extend credit to customers in some form, then you can get paid faster with factoring. Often this involves invoices with net terms, like net 30, 60, or 90. To be paid faster, turn those invoices over to a factoring company. They immediately give you an agreed upon percentage of the total of the invoices, like 80%. When your customer pays, the factoring company keeps their fee. Then they send you the rest. But never forget—factoring only works if your customers pay.
Goal #1 should be strong business credit (10—12 accounts) and good personal credit. You also want to build consistent revenue to $10,000 or more a month. Always develop business connections in your community and with potential lenders. Let’s move onto phase 3.
Now you’re in a time of successful growth…what you’re doing is working! It’s time to start optimizing systems and operations. You’ll undergo massive team and infrastructure development. Plus long term growth and planning for a semi-annual to annual focus on lifetime customer value. You need to make some high level strategic hires (Managers, VP’s, Essential C levels). This phase happens at about 24 months or more from launch.
Your Phase 3 credit options put your Phase 1 and Phase 2 options on steroids, with:
Phase 3 opens your funding options up to:
This can often mean online lending. For certain industries, it is one of the only ways to get money. Before you dip into your savings, investigate business lending for your industry. Because lenders that specialize in lending to your industry are out there.
More time in business also makes SBA loans a real possibility for your business. It’s easier to get an SBA loan in Phase 3 versus earlier. This is because you can more readily show your business is established and making money. Demonstrated profitability and responsible credit and bank account management improve your chances of getting an approval for an SBA loan. SBA loans have great terms, which is why you should be striving to be eligible for one.
Big banks only sign off on about 25% of the small business loan applications they see. Term loans often have lower interest rates than many other funding options, and also tend to be for higher loan amounts. Most likely, you must undergo a personal credit check and/or provide collateral.
In Phase 3, you take your business to the next financial level, so your goals are:
You can get retail credit comes from major retailers. Retailers check if your business information is uniform everywhere, and if your business is properly and thoroughly licensed. Terms can be revolving. You need at least 3 accounts reporting to the business CRAs.
Use fleet credit to:
These tend to be gas credit cards. There may be a minimal time in business requirement.
Business credit cards are more universal-type credit cards, like MasterCard. So you can use them pretty much anywhere. These cards may even have rewards programs. Terms can be revolving. Often you need to have at least 14 accounts reporting to the business CRAs. There can be longer time in business requirements. Let’s move onto phase 4.
So consistent growth is key. Now you’re aiming for long term consistent and stable growth and moving toward market domination. This can include competitor buyouts and acquisitions. Product development and expansion becomes critical for longevity. Now it’s time for the big hire. You get to fill out C Level, Directors, and middle management. Yes, your business can become this big! This phase can happen at around four to five years from launch.
So now, the sky is pretty much the limit! You should be able to get:
And you should be able to leverage reports for specific vendors. This includes asking for a credit line.
In addition to everything we’ve already talked about, your business can take full advantage of:
You might even sell shares in your corporation or go public!
So now you’re playing the long game. Your mission is to look to the future and help your business for decades to come. Therefore, you must:
So you should maximize and leverage of cash flow with vendors and business credit. Let’s move ahead to phase 5.
By now, your business should be very well established. Hence it’s time to cash in on all the work you have invested. Now your funding and credit has the long game return. A business credit portfolio is transferable and increases the value of your business.
Now your proven track record with merchant cash advances or revenue lending pays off big time, as it can keep your business cash flow moving through any difficulties. And a proven track record with the SBA, and a profitable banking relationship, also improves the value of your business. People want to buy something they can lend against if necessary.
Selling can mean you’re retiring, or maybe trading one form of entrepreneurship for another. Or you may want to change industries yet remain an entrepreneur. In Phase 5, you can:
In essence, you should be ready to sign for your own buyout. A profitable, seasoned business can be an exceptionally valuable legacy.
Your successful business will go through several phases throughout its lifetime. These phases dictate how you can best finance your business, and the kinds of credit you’re most likely to qualify for. Follow the steps in order and reap the rewards. Contact us today for a free consultation to see where you are in your journey, and what you qualify for.
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