Tag: Types

What is an Influencer: Types, Examples, & How Much They Make

If you don’t know what an influencer is, where have you been living for the past decade? Influencers have transformed the way customers and brands use social media.

For most brands, they are part of a core marketing strategy that drives awareness, traffic, and sales. Influencers wield a lot of power. If you can get an influencer to endorse your product or brand, you can tap into the audience at the influencer’s disposal, which may be far more vast than your own following.

In this article, I’ll explain what an influencer is and how influencer marketing works. I’ll let you know how much you can expect to spend and how to get started today. Ready to increase your reach? Then let’s begin.

What Is an Influencer and What Is Influencer Marketing?

To put it simply, an influencer is any person who influences the behavior of others. In a marketing context, influencers are individuals who collaborate with brands to promote products or services to their audience.

Now that word-of-mouth recommendations and criticisms spread through social media faster than fire in a dry field, influencers are more important than ever. They usually have huge followings on social media and are brand advocates as well as niche promoters.

True influence drives action, not just awareness.

Jay Baer

What Is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is a social media marketing strategy that sees brands leverage the audience of influencers to drive awareness and sales. Influencers are paid to endorse or promote a product to their audience, who, in turn, buy the product from the brand.

Influencer marketing has been growing in popularity for years and will once again be one of the leading marketing trends for 2022. Almost three-quarters (72.5 percent) of marketers are predicted to use influencer marketing in 2022.

Who Uses Influencer Marketing?

While it seems that some companies don’t want to let go of their outbound marketing practices, fashion ecommerce sites are targeting influencers like pros. Many are reaching out to reputable fashion bloggers and sending them clothing and accessory items to be reviewed. The blogger then posts photos and writes about the garments, often linking back to the site where their audience can buy the items being reviewed.

An example influencer marketing ad featuring Kate Nash.

ModCloth, a vintage clothing site, does a great job of this. They are active in sharing (on social media platforms) the images their audience members provide showing them wearing ModCloth’s clothing. This makes their audience feel special, which encourages more posts about the clothing.

I’ve seen many fashion sites send their items to an influencer, and then the audience could enter a contest to receive them. Or sometimes, they will send a credit to an active fashion social media user, magazine writer, or blogger so they can go to the site, pick out some clothing, and then review the experience as a whole.

What Are the 4 Types of Influencers?

There are several different types of influencers. Influencers can be celebrities with millions of followers, or they can be a normal person with a few thousand followers. Typically, influencers are grouped into the following four categories depending on their audience size.

Nano-influencers

Nano-influencers have the smallest audience size with 10,000 followers or fewer. These people may be experts in very niche areas or people who are just starting their influencer journey. Their audiences may be small, but they are incredibly engaged.

NYC-based self-care and exercise Instagrammer Jen Lauren is an excellent example of a nano influencer. She has a small but highly engaged community and creates niche content.

Instagram Influencer Jen Lauren's page.

Micro-influencers

Micro-influencers have audiences that range from 10,000 followers to 100,000 followers. These people are typically niche experts with reasonably large and engaged audiences. They aren’t celebrities, and you’d walk past them in the street without knowing who they are.

Travel and lifestyle blogger Miette Dierckx is a micro-influencer with a carefully curated audience who follow her globe-trotting adventures. She works with a range of companies like sunscreen brand La Roche Posay and chocolate brand Cote D’or.

Instagram Influencer Miette Dierckx's page.

Macro-influencers

Macro-influencers have audiences sized between 100,000 and 1 million followers. These are some of the most accessible influencers with the biggest audiences. They tend to be B or C-list celebrities or online-native influencers who have worked hard to build up a big audience.

Fashion blogger Amy Jackson is a macro influencer who works with a huge range of brands like Celine and Cuyana.

Instagram Influencer Amy Jackson's page.

Mega-influencers

Mega influencers have the biggest audiences. Influencers have to have at least 1 million followers to be considered a mega influencer.

These are usually celebrities who have gained fame offline and translated that into online earnings — think Ryan Reynolds or the Jenners. Some, however, are native internet and social media users. People like Zoella or MrBeast are great examples of this.

Instagram Influencer Zoella's page.

How Much Do Influencers Cost?

Successful influencer marketing campaigns do not come cheap. In fact, brands will spend $15 billion on influencer marketing in 2022.

While you may be able to send free products to nano influencers, don’t expect a huge amount of traction. Influencers with larger audiences expect to be paid and campaigns can quickly reach five, six, and seven figures.

There are several ways you can pay influencers. Most will charge a flat fee for a post. Some may request an affiliate commission rate where they receive a percentage of every sale they make.

How much influencers cost depends on a number of factors, including:

  • audience size
  • platform
  • engagement levels
  • niche

Rates vary broadly. A report by Fox Business found that influencers with over one million followers can charge more than $100,000 per post. Micro-influencers, on the other hand, charge up to a few thousand dollars per post and can make upwards of $100,000 per year.

Why Do Influencers Matter For Your Brand?

Consumers trust recommendations from a third party more than from a brand itself, particularly if they are seen as knowledgeable and trustworthy. An influencer is a great example of this kind of third party. Working with influencers passes the trust they’ve built with their audience to your brand and makes you seem much more credible.

It makes sense if you think about it in a more personal context; you don’t usually trust a person at a cocktail party who comes up to you and brags about himself or herself and spouts fun facts about his or her personality to convince you to be a friend. Instead, you often believe your mutual friend who vouches for that person.

An influencer is the mutual friend connecting your brand with your target consumers.

An influencer also significantly expands your brand’s reach. When you align your brand with an influencer, not only do they bring their audience, but they also bring their audience’s network as well. Because of the loyalty of their audience, an influencer has the ability to drive traffic to your site, increase your social media exposure, and flat-out sell your product through their recommendation or story about their experience.

With the fall of traditional outbound marketing, influencer marketing is becoming one of the most effective ways to attract customers and clients. Modern-day consumers are self-sufficient and want to research a brand on their own and hear about it from someone they trust.

How do influencers assist with your inbound marketing? They generate content about your brand, they recommend your brand to their loyal following, and they insert themselves into conversations surrounding your brand. Getting them on your side before your competitor does can make a huge difference in the success (or lack thereof) of your company or product.

How to Get Started With Influencer Marketing

Working with influencers is a great way to grow your brand on social media.

Determine Your Goals

Do you want to increase brand awareness or make more sales? These are the two most common goals of influencer marketing campaigns, but achieving them requires significantly different strategies.

If you want to make more sales, for instance, you may choose to focus on micro-influencers who have small but engaged audiences. If you care about raising brand awareness, however, it will probably be better to work with a handful of macro and mega influencers.

Think About Your Audience

As a marketer, you already have a solid idea of the audience you should be targeting for your brand. To locate the ideal influencer, you need to take it one step further and think about the types of topics, blogs, and Twitter handles that your audience would follow.

Since I market a blogger outreach tool for my company, the influencers that I target are PR and marketing blogs that focus on content and influencer marketing. Followers of these blogs usually are PR professionals and marketers who want to keep up with the latest technology and trends in their field.

Thus, hopefully, they find my company relevant when a blogger they follow recommends it. However, had I gone after bloggers who write about finance, even though a particular blogger might like my software, their audience most likely wouldn’t care.

Find the Right Influencer for Your Brand

With your goals and target audience established, you can start to find influencers who are a great fit for your brand. There are three factors I recommend bearing in mind when choosing influencers.

Context: Is your influencer a contextual fit? This is the most important characteristic when targeting the right influencers for your brand. For example, Justin Bieber is known as one of the most “influential” social media users with his 37+ million followers. Would his tweet about your software really bring in sales, though? Probably not, because the target audience for tech software and Justin’s target audience aren’t the same; his endorsement isn’t really relevant.

Reach: In addition to wanting an influencer from your field, you also want them to have reach. This is so they can share their awesome content or positive recommendation of your brand with as many of the right people as possible. If your online business sold clothes for “tweens,” then maybe a mention to 37 million girls from Justin Bieber wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Actionability: This is the influencer’s ability to cause their audience to take action. This characteristic comes naturally when you target individuals that are in contextual alignment with your brand and have a far enough reach.

Influencers don’t force themselves upon an audience. They are an “opt-in” network. Their audience chooses to follow their blog or Twitter handle. Thus, their audience is engaged and is there to hear about the topic being discussed. Hence, the need for a contextual fit.

I want to note that there is a lot of market research coming out about mid-level influencers. These are the influencers who have a decent reach but don’t have such a large audience that they can’t nurture relationships with their audience and harness loyalty. A loyal audience soaks up recommendations like a dry sponge. If in doubt, these are the influencers you should aim for.

Where to Look for Your Ideal Influencer

The final step in getting started with influencer marketing is to find those influencers who meet all of the criteria we’ve listed above. Here are my favorite ways of finding them.

Social Media Monitoring

Brand advocates are the loudest influencers your brand will have. Not only does their audience follow them because what they write aligns with your brand, but they also talk loudly and actively about how much they like your company. By tuning in to your social media mentions and blog posts about your brand, you will find influencers and advocates you didn’t realize you had.

Social media monitoring also allows you to find influencers who advocate for the genre or niche you outlined in step 1. For example, someone may post and tweet heavily about yoga gear but not mention your website as an awesome place to buy yoga apparel or equipment. Well, this is someone you want to engage with and expose your brand to.

Research Hashtags

Identify the hashtags that your target influencers are using. For my company, I follow #bloggeroutreach and #influencemktg. By tuning in to the conversations surrounding these hashtags, I have not only identified active talkers in these categories, but I’ve also identified blog topics that I wrote to appeal to these influencers as well.

Once you start finding influencers that seem like a good fit for your brand, I recommend putting them in a Twitter list so that you can organize and follow them most effectively. I use HootSuite to organize my Twitter channel. Here is what my hashtags look like in their platform:

HootSuite's homepage shown as an example of hashtag reseach.

Google Alerts

Set alerts for keywords pertaining to your brand to identify people who actively write about topics in your realm. You also should create alternatives for the name of your brand so that you can find posts and articles containing your mentions and identify advocates who already are in place.

The google alert page for identifying people who write about certain topics.

Mention

Mention allows you to type in your company’s name to discover mentions on different outlets such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, just to name a few.

Blogger Outreach

Bloggers arguably are the strongest spoke in the wheel of influencers. One of the bonuses of targeting bloggers is they almost always are active across many social media platforms.

When locating influential bloggers for your brand, start by searching for blogs in your genre and find the niche(s) by reading through the posts to determine if they write about relevant post topics. After making a list of the contextually relevant bloggers, then it’s time to locate their SEO stats and social media information to pinpoint the ones that equal the best reach for your brand.

Outreach to bloggers as a way to find potential influencers.

Manually sorting through blogs to find all of the criteria that you outlined when you gave your influencer an image can take a long time. Luckily, there are a lot of really good blogger outreach tools out there to make this process easier. There is a tool to cover every part of the spectrum.

Influencer Marketplaces

Influencer marketplaces like AspireIQ and Famebit connect brands with influencers in their industry. They often help track the ROI of campaigns, manage payments, and track engagement metrics. They do, however, take a cut, so make sure it’s a good fit for your campaign before investing.

Examples of Influencer Marketing Matches

Callum Snape and Sun Peaks Resort

Macro influencer Callum Snape is one of Canada’s best-known wilderness and travel photographers. That made him a perfect partner for Sun Peaks Resort, an alpine ski resort in British Columbia. His incredible images and videos created hundreds of thousands of views and likes, driving massive awareness for the resort.

An example influencer marketing Instagram post from Callum Snape and Sun Peaks Resort.

Chrissy Teigen and BECCA Cosmetics

Launching a new product alongside a mega influencer can result in a huge boost in awareness. That was the case for BECCA Cosmetics which launched its new Be a Light palette with Chrissy Teigen. Her promo video garnered 2.7 million views, which has helped launch an incredibly profitable product line.

An example influencer marketing Instagram post from Chrissy Teigen.

Gymshark and Multiple Influencers

Gymshark has built a billion-dollar business on the back of influencers. The brand’s recent 66-day challenge is a great example of how you can raise brand awareness and engagement on a massive level by working with multiple influencers across several channels at once. By partnering with influencers like Melanie Walking and Laurie Elle, Gymshark garnered 241.3 million views on TikTok and 750,000 posts on Instagram.

An example Influencer marketing instagram post from Gymshark.

FAQs

What is an influencer?

An influencer is an individual who wields influence over an audience of people. In a marketing context, they have a large social media following and work with brands to promote products and services. 

What are the four types of influencers?

There are 4 types of influencers: nano-influencers, micro-influencers, macro-influencers, and mega-influencers.

How much does it cost to hire an influencer?

The cost can vary based on industry, the campaign, and the influencer’s reach. Smaller Instagram influencers make between $100 and $300 per post, large celebrities can make thousands or hundreds of thousands.

Where can I find the right influencer for my industry?

Consider using influencer engagement marketplaces or searching relevant hashtags and brands on your platform of choice.

How do I track ROI for influencer campaigns?

Pairing influencer campaigns with affiliate marketing is the easiest way to track ROI. By providing influencers with a unique link makes it simple to track sales and engagement.

How successful is influencer marketing?

Like any marketing campaign, it depends on your strategy and goals. However, 80 percent of marketers find influencer marketing is effective, and 89 percent say it is as effective or more effective than other channels.

Conclusion

Influencer marketing has evolved since it first became a digital marketing strategy, but the technique continues to be successful for many brands.

It’s easy to make mistakes with your first influencer marketing campaign. If you want help creating an influencer campaign for your company, let our agency know and we can help guide you through the process.

Where do you look for influencers for your brand? Cheers to a good discussion in the comments below!

5 Types of Marketing Organization Structures That Will Fuel Your Growth

Successful marketing requires a focused strategy and an outstanding team to bring it all together. However, introducing an effective marketing organization structure can take your business to the next level.

With a solid marketing structure in place, your staff knows exactly what is expected of them. With everyone clear on their jobs and their roles in the company’s success, everything operates more smoothly, and it enables your team to work in unison.

However, not all business models are suitable for all companies. If you want to choose the right marketing organization structure, you need to know which type is best for your business.

How do you choose? Let’s talk about the five most common structures, how they work, and the pros and cons of each one.

What Is a Marketing Organizational Structure?

A marketing organizational structure is the setup of a company’s marketing department. It determines the leadership chain and sets out your business’s goals. It also defines employee roles, establishes employee structure, and organizes teams.

Organizational structures in marketing come in many shapes and sizes, but they all serve the same purpose: to create a system that enables the marketing department to function effectively and achieve its goals.

As Gartner’s Marketing Organization Survey 2020 notes, marketers are continuing to strive to create “more effective and responsive organizations” while minimizing disruption.

According to their research, 27 percent of marketers use functional marketing organization structures in their business.

Marketing Organization Structure - Gartner survey

Why a Marketing Organizational Structure Is Important

Setting up a structure benefits your company in multiple ways, empowering employers, allowing better focus, and enabling agility. Let’s look at this in more detail.

Improves Agility

Today’s businesses need to be agile. Agility is essential in fast-changing sectors, allowing your team to enhance efficiency, prioritize workloads, create relevant products, and allocate budgets more effectively. It also makes it easier to shift when technology, trends, or Google’s Algorithms change.

Agile marketing is increasing in areas like content creation and creative services, with 77 percent of businesses taking this approach.

Empowers Your Employees

If you want your business to succeed, you need the best people for the job. A functional marketing organization structure groups your team based on skills, ensuring you have the right person for each job and they have the support they need.

When employees are in positions that fit their skills and the support they need, they are empowered to succeed—which improves loyalty and your bottom line.

Improve Employee Focus

When employees have clear goals, it’s easier for them to concentrate on their tasks. When every employee on the marketing team is working with the same focus, it streamlines the process and enables collaboration.

Additionally, focus keeps team members engaged. This is crucial because, according to Gallup, engagement increases productivity by 18 percent. Further, it increases profitability by 23 percent, while decreasing absenteeism by 81 percent.

5 Types of Marketing Organizational Structures

There are several types of marketing organizational structures. Each model has its own advantages and disadvantages, which we detail in this section. Keep in mind what works well for your business may not be suitable for someone else.

A company’s structure depends on its size, products, customers, and type. Below, we’ll cover the most common systems and who should consider using them.

1. Functional Marketing Organizational Structure

A functional marketing organizational structure describes a company’s design and is built around the marketing functions it has to perform. As detailed in the intro, research by Gartner shows 27 percent of marketers use this model.

The functional structure allows for clear communication and cooperation between different departments. It also makes it easy to identify and assign specific tasks to individual employees.

It looks like this:

Types of Marketing Organizational Structures - Functional Marketing Organizational Structure

This type of structure allows for greater specialization and expertise within the marketing function, leading to improved efficiency and effectiveness in marketing operations.

Amazon uses this structure for its e-commerce business because it’s well-suited to the sector. Additionally, the functional marketing organization structure is favored by larger organizations and is ideal for companies with a stable environment.

Despite the positives, this structure can lead to communication breakdowns, decreased creativity, and inflexibility. Additionally, it may be difficult to move people around within a functional frame, potentially impacting the company’s ability to respond quickly to market changes.

Finally, functional structures can be difficult to manage when a business grows too large.

2. Segmented Marketing Organizational Structure

Segmented marketing organizational structures allow firms to tailor their marketing efforts to specific customer segments. For each segment of customers, a different team is responsible for understanding their needs and creating tailored marketing programs.

The structure usually works well for companies with a large customer base and a complex sales process. Businesses can ensure customers are constantly engaged, and it allows the streamlining of communication between different departments.

Additionally, organizations using this model can decide how best to segment depending on their aims and the resulting customer insights.

Types of Marketing Organizational Structures - Segmented Marketing Organizational Structure

Advantages of this model include:

  1. Improved customer engagement due to increased focus.
  2. Improved communication and collaboration due to smaller, more focused teams.
  3. Increased efficiency due to specialization.
  4. The ability to spot new trends faster.
  5. Customer trust through relationship building.

However, this structure can also be costly because it requires multiple teams with different skills and knowledge.

3. Product Marketing Organizational Structure

Product marketing teams have a multitude of tasks, including target audience research, content marketing, and analytics. Then there are co-branding partnerships to consider, with research showing 71 percent of consumers enjoy multiple brands working together to make a unique product.

With so much going on, what’s the best way to coordinate? By introducing a product marketing organization structure.

In this model, each group has its team of marketers responsible for developing and executing the marketing strategy for their specific product line. A product marketing organizational structure is the preferred model for businesses with different lines of products/services and looks like this:

Types of Marketing Organizational Structures - Product Marketing Organizational Structure

This model allows organizations to respond to changing trends and meet customer needs while concentrating on targeted market sectors.

However, it can be difficult to track and measure the effectiveness of the marketing activities due to a lack of central control and duplicate roles in different divisions. To work around this challenge, businesses may consider grouping similar products together.

4. Digital Marketing Organizational Structure

A digital marketing organizational structure is essential for any company looking to create an online presence. If your business has a dedicated team to handle all digital marketing tasks, you can make and implement a cohesive strategy to reach your target audience.

The structure of a digital marketing department varies by company size but often includes a mix of people with various backgrounds and skillsets.

With a digital marketing organization structure, the company can have specialized teams that focus on different aspects of digital marketing, such as search engine optimization (SEO), paid search engine advertising (PPC), graphic design, and content marketing.

This specialization allows each team to become an expert in their area of focus, which leads to better results for the company.

Depending on which model you use, your structure might look like this:

Types of Marketing Organizational Structures - Digital Marketing Organizational Structure

You might also choose to have different organizations for paid versus organic, social versus content, and so forth.

5. Hybrid Marketing Organizational Structure

In today’s business world, companies need to adapt to the ever-changing market. One way to do this is through a hybrid or matrix marketing organizational structure. This structure allows companies to have the best of both worlds by combining the advantages of both functional and divisional systems.

Both of these structures have their advantages. For instance, a functional structure works on a centralized basis, with each department reporting to a single leader. This allows for better communication and coordination between departments.

By contrast, a divisional structure is centralized, with each department having its own head and reports to a different leader. This allows for more local decision-making but can lead to duplication of efforts and coordination problems between departments.

In practice, your hybrid/matrix marketing organizational structure might look something like this:

Types of Marketing Organizational Structures - Hybrid Marketing Organizational Structure

The flexibility of the hybrid model means it’s enormously popular among businesses, with 72 percent of employees working in matrixed teams.

A big advantage of a hybrid marketing organization is they tend to be more responsive to changes in the market. Because it is flexible, it can quickly adapt to new conditions.

However, a hybrid structure can lead to conflict between departments or divisions, and it’s sometimes hard for departments to coordinate. Gallup’s research also uncovered a lot of overwhelm with the hybrid model, with 45 percent of employees saying they spend most of their day responding to requests from coworkers.

Companies often use the hybrid model in dynamic environments which move from project to project.

More Tips to Pick an Organizational Structure

The market organizational structures listed above are among the most popular, but there are more you could choose from.

For instance, a linear organization structure is a management style where all employees and managers report to one boss.

Marketing Organization Structure - Linear organization structure chart

This type of organization is common in small businesses and marketing organizations. The linear organization structure is easy to understand and can be effective when the company is small, and everyone reports to the same person.

In a marketing firm, you can use the linear form to control the flow of information from the top down. However, this can also be limiting because it does not allow for horizontal communication among employees.

Finally, projectized organization structures are organizational structures in which specific, temporary projects are given to their departments that report directly to top management. In businesses with high fluctuation in workloads, this type of structure makes it possible to quickly set up and disband project-specific teams as needed.

A typical projectized organizational structure would look something like this:

Marketing Organizational Structure - projectized organization

When choosing an organizational structure, think about both your current needs and your future needs. If you plan to launch several products in the next year, for example, it makes sense to create a product-based marketing structure from the start.

Marketing Organization Structures Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best marketing organizational structure for small businesses?

Each business works differently, meaning which system works well for one may not work for another. The linear structure, which has one leader, is the most common. You could choose from several types, including functional, matrix, or divisional.

What is the best marketing organizational structure for B2B businesses?

To keep things simple, consulting firm the Pedowitz Group suggests a basic structure for a B2B marketing organization structure to focus on tasks like content and digital services, digital demand generation, and reporting to a CMO. There is no “one size fits all” structure for a business: you need to begin by looking at your business’s overall aims and current strategy. To guide you, the Edward Lowe Foundation has some great tips.

What is the simplest marketing organizational structure?

The linear structure is the most basic model and the functional structure is the most common and also easy to implement.

How long does it take to set up a marketing organizational structure?

It varies depending on the size of your business, the type of structure you go with, your goals, and your current strategy. It can take weeks or months to get it right, and then you need to review your structure regularly to make sure it works for your goals.

Should I consider freelancers and contractors in my marketing organizational structure?

Yes, consider all options when structuring your team. This includes both freelancers and contractors. Freelancers can be an excellent option for short-term projects or for filling gaps in your team’s skill set. Contractors can be a good option for long-term projects.

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Conclusion: Marketing Organization Structures That Fuel Growth

The structure of an organization’s marketing department can significantly impact its overall performance.

The best structure for your business will depend on the products or services you offer, the size of your company, and your geographical location.

Companies should carefully evaluate their options and select the format most likely to lead to success.

Popular choices include the foundational structure, product-based, or a divisional model. Alternatively, you might want to adopt a hybrid model to cater to today’s hybrid consumers.

Do you use a marketing organization structure? Which model works best for you?

3 Types of Collateral Loans to Fund Your Business Now

Collateral loans can allow you to get better rates and terms on business funding. Prime assets for collateral include inventory, equipment, real estate, and investments. Often, the asset you are financing itself can be used as collateral. As a result, you can get what you need without depleting cash reserves.

What is Collateral?

According to Investopedia, collateral is:

“…an asset that a lender accepts as security for a loan. Collateral may take the form of real estate or other kinds of assets, depending on the purpose of the loan. The collateral acts as a form of protection for the lender. That is, if the borrower defaults on their loan payments, the lender can seize the collateral and sell it to recoup some or all of its losses.”

Now, here are some examples of collateral loans.

#1 Inventory

You can use the inventory you want to sell as collateral for a loan to buy the inventory!

Inventory Financing

Inventory collateral loans can be in the form of a revolving line of credit or a short-term loan. The funds   can purchase products for resale. In fact, the products typically serve as the collateral for the loan.

Of course, there may be restrictions on the type of inventory you can use. For example This not allowing cannabis, alcohol, firearms, or perishable goods is common. Also, there can also be revenue requirements or a minimum FICO score.

Kickfurther

Interestingly, Kickfurther is a combination of inventory financing and crowdfunding. With this platform, you get financing from supporters and fundraise directly to them. They buy through what’s called a Consignment Opportunity.

Consequently, your customers own the products they help fund.  That is,  until they are sold by the brand. As soon as the products sell, the customer earns payments. Kickfurther also offers an online store for businesses to market and sell their products. It is possible to get funding for up to $2 million in inventory.

Payback terms will vary. However, at the end of each sales period you submit sales reports and provide payment for inventory sold. Furthermore, you must provide a monthly accounting of current inventory levels.

#2 Equipment

There are several ways to use equipment to get collateral loans.

Equipment Financing

These are collateral loans you can use to purchase hard assets for your business. Terms for equipment financing through Credit Suite are as follows:

  • Companies must have at least one year in business
  • You can get approved even with challenged credit
  • You won’t need financials to secure equipment financing
  • Approvals take as little as 24 hours

Equipment Leasing

In contrast, you can also lease equipment rather than buy it outright. Often, you will put down less money than you would if you were buying. In addition, you may be able to negotiate flexible terms with an equipment lease.

Even better, it’s easy to upgrade equipment after your lease ends. Of course, this is helpful if your equipment is something like a computer which quickly becomes obsolete.

  • Terms for equipment leasing through Credit Suite are:
  • Personal credit score of 640 or above
  • Provide lenders with any requested details on the equipment you are getting
  • Up $10,000,000 in equipment financing possible

Equipment Sale-Leaseback

You can also use equipment you already own as collateral. Basically, you sell equipment to a lender for cash, and then lease it back from them. As a bonus, this lets you unlock Section 179 tax savings and depreciate your entire equipment purchase in the first year.

Of course, term lengths and the amount you can finance will vary. First, you need at least one larger piece of higher value equipment to qualify.  Then, you can get funding in as little as 3 weeks. Generally, a lender just wants to be sure your equipment does not have any liens against it.

Investments

If you have investments, you can use them to gain access to funding for your business through collateral loans without worrying about credit scores.

IRA Financing

IRA financing allows you to invest a portion of your retirement funds into your business. The result is, you gain more control over the performance of your retirement plan assets.  At the same time, you get access to the working capital you need for business growth.

Usually, you will work with a CPA who will help you. You can cash out the lesser of half or $50,000 from an account that qualifies. If applicable, the CPA you work with will structure a self-directing IRA for the remaining funds.

Stocks Financing

Some lenders will make loans using securities as collateral. You can use the funds for almost any purpose. This includes buying real estate or investing in a business. The only restrictions to this kind of lending are other securities transactions, like buying shares or repaying a margin loan.

Also, you continue to earn interest on the stocks, and rates can be as low as 1.6%.

Bonds Financing

Typically, bonds financing is available through large financial institutions and private banks. In general, those that look for these kinds of loans want to make a large business acquisition.  Or, they may want to execute large transactions like real estate purchases. In this type of funding, the borrower’s investment portfolio helps the lender determine how much to loan.

Most investment-grade corporate, treasury, municipal, and government agency bonds are fair game. You keep all the interest and appreciation from your securities. To qualify, all the lender will require is a copy of your two most recent securities statements.

If your stocks or bonds have a value over $25,000, you can get approval.  Even bad personal credit isn’t an issue.

Bonus: 401(k) Financing

To be fair, this is not a loan. You will not have to pay an early withdrawal fee or a tax penalty. The plan, rather than the individual, owns the trade or business through its company stock investments. Since it isn’t a loan against your 401(k), there’s no interest to pay. Instead, this is actually a change of ownership.

Still, it is business funding you can get using investments, so it bears mentioning.

Officially, the name for this type of funding is a 401(k) Rollover for Working Capital program. The IRS calls it a Rollover for Business Startups (ROBS). Per the IRS, a ROBS qualified plan is a separate entity with its own set of requirements.

Credit Suite 401(k) Rollover for Working Capital program highlights:

  • Low rates, often less than 5%
  • Your 401(k) will need to have more than $35,000 in it
  • Can often get up to 100% of what’s “rollable” within your 401(k)
  • The lender will want to see a copy of your two most recent 401(k) statements
  • You can get 401(k) financing even with severely challenged personal credit
  • The 401(k) you use cannot be from a business where you are currently employed
  • It must be from older employment
  • You cannot be currently contributing to the plan

Collateral Loans Can Open Up a World of FundIng With Terms and Rates that Can’t Be Beat

Honestly, collateral loans open up a whole world of funding you may not be able to get otherwise. One benefit is, it’s typically available regardless of credit history.  Better yet, the terms and rates can’t be beat. If you have the option, depending on the need and the situation, collateral loans may just be what you are looking for.

The post 3 Types of Collateral Loans to Fund Your Business Now appeared first on Credit Suite.

12 Useful Open Graph Meta Tag Types for Facebook and Twitter

What You Need to Know About Open Graph Meta Tags for Total Facebook and Twitter Mastery

Marketers create a lot of content. Yes, content is king, but that king is powerless without followers.

So, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you want to reach a broader audience with your awesome new blog post?

Sharing on social media, of course. The massive audiences of sites like Facebook and Twitter make them some of the best sharing, but do you know how to optimize that outreach potential?

Open graph meta tags were designed to do just that. But what are they, why do they matter, and — most importantly — how do you use them?

What Is Open Graph and Why Was It Created?

Facebook introduced Open Graph in 2010 to promote integration between Facebook and other websites by allowing posts to become rich objects with the same functionality as other Facebook objects.

Put simply, it helps optimize Facebook posts by providing more control over how information travels from a third-party website to Facebook when a page is shared (or liked, etc.).

To make this possible, information is sent via Open Graph meta tags in the <head> part of the website’s code.

Now, other social media sites also are taking advantage of social meta tags.

Several other major platforms, including Twitter and LinkedIn, recognize Open Graph tags. Twitter actually has its own meta tags for Twitter Cards, but if Twitter robots cannot find any, Twitter uses Open Graph tags instead.

Why Marketers Should Care About Open Graph

Social media sites are the major drivers of most of the web’s traffic. Consequently, the ability to harness the power of social meta tags is a vital skill for today’s marketers.

Most importantly: open graph meta tags can have a massive impact on conversions and click-through rates.

Have you ever shared a link on Facebook only to find that the thumbnail was missing, or there was a totally different picture than you expected?

Knowing just a little about Open Graph tags can help you tackle these problems and improve your social media marketing.

Adding Open Graph tags to your website won’t directly affect your on-page SEO, but it will influence the performance of your links on social media, so that means it’s worth looking into. Let’s take a look at the most important meta tags for Facebook and how to optimize them for better sharing.

Understanding Facebook Open Graph Meta Tags

Facebook has several open graph meta tag types. Let’s cover the different types, then I’ll cover how to use them.

Facebook HTML Tags open graph meta tags guide

og:title

As you might guess, this is how you define your content’s title. It serves a similar purpose as the traditional meta title tag in your code. In fact, if Facebook doesn’t find the og:title tag on your page, it uses the meta title instead.

Keep in mind that the text shown on a Facebook feed is in bold and extremely eye-catching. It must be compelling, just like a good post title.

There is no limit on the number of characters, but it’s best to stay between 60 and 90. If your title is longer than 100 characters, Facebook will truncate it to only 88!

Example:

<meta property=”og:title” content=”Your eye-catching title here” />

og:url

This is how you set the canonical URL for the page you are sharing. What this means is that you define one page that all your shares will go to. It’s useful if you happen to have more than one URL for the same content (for example, using parameters). Important note: URL provided is not shown on Facebook newsfeed, only domain is visible.

Example:

<meta property=”og:url” content=”http://www.yourdomain.com” />

og:type

This is how you describe the kind of object you are sharing: blog post, video, picture, or whatever. The list to choose from is long. Here are some examples:

Web based:

  • website
  • article
  • blog

Entertainment:

  • book
  • game
  • movie
  • food

Place:

  • city
  • country

People:

  • actor
  • author
  • politician

Business:

  • company
  • hotel
  • restaurant

You can see the full list of types here.

This tag is important if your page has a “Like” button and represents a real-life object (like a book or a movie). It determines if your content will appear in a user’s interest section of her profile in the event she “Likes” it.

In most cases, you will use the “website” value, since what you are sharing is a link to a website. In fact, if you don’t define a type, Facebook will read it as “website” by default.

Example:

<meta property=”og:type” content=”website” />

og:description

This meta data descriptor is very similar to the meta description tag in HTML. This is where you describe your content, but instead of it showing on a search engine results page, it shows below the link title on Facebook.

Unlike a regular meta description tag, it won’t affect your SEO. (So, don’t spend too much time figuring out how to sneak in keywords.) However, it’s a good idea to make it compelling because you want people to click on it.

You are not limited to a character count, but it’s best to use around 200 letters. In some cases, depending on a link/title/domain, Facebook can display up to 300 characters, but I suggest treating anything above 200 as something extra.

Example:

<meta property=”og:description” content=”Your entertaining and descriptive copy here, if your meta description is good, use it.” />

og:image

This is the most interesting Open Graph tag for many marketers because a picture always helps content stand out. This is how you ensure that a particular thumbnail will be shown when your page is shared. It can be very helpful for your conversion rates.

Make sure you set the og:image you choose, otherwise Facebook will show something stupid like an unwanted ad banner scraped from the page, or nothing at all (as below). We definitely don’t want that!

FB no thumbnail open graph meta tags

It’s important to remember that if your page is static and you don’t use any sort of content management system (CMS) (like WordPress), you need to change the og:image manually for each of your pages.

If your website is controlled with a CMS and you installed the relevant plugin, the og:image tags are assigned automatically for each page. Look for the list of plugins further down.

The most frequently recommended resolution for an OG image is 1200 pixels x 627 pixels (1.91/1 ratio). At this size, your thumbnail will be big and stand out from the crowd. Just don’t exceed the 5MB size limit.

FB my full open graph meta tag example

If you use an image that is smaller than 400 pixels x 209 pixels, it will render as a much smaller thumbnail. It’s nowhere nearly as eye-catching.

FB little thumbnail for open graph meta tags

Keep in mind that the picture you use as an Open Graph image can be different from what you have on your page.

Why wouldn’t you leverage that opportunity to stand out even more?

For example, if your title is good, but the picture you are using is not very exciting (not an infographic or a good-looking person, etc.), consider using an image with a good line or two of copy instead (see example below).

One thing you need to remember if you do this: lace your text, or the most significant part of it, in the middle of the image. This matters because Facebook trims the sides of thumbnails.

FB thumbnail centred with text open graph meta tag

Example:

<meta property=”og:image” content=”http://www.yourdomain.com/image-name.jpg” />

Advanced Facebook Open Graph Tags

The Open Graph tags above are the ones you really need to know (og:description not so much, but it is useful). There are other, more advanced, tags you can use to provide even more in-depth specifications.

  • og:locale – defines the language, American English is the default
  • og:site_name – if the page (object) you are sharing is part of a larger network
  • og:audio or og:video – to add additional audio or video files to your object
  • fb:app_id – for linking to a Facebook application (e.g., FB Comments) with the object

Check Your Open Graph Tags

To make life easier, Facebook has created a tool called Sharing Debugger. It has two very helpful functionalities.

First, when you type in the link you want to check, it returns any errors and suggestions for OG tags, if there are any. You also can check what the og:image looks like, what your description is, and so on.

Second, it clears the Facebook cache. Imagine this: you post a link to Facebook, but then you see a mistake in the thumbnail, so you go back to your site and adjust the OG tags, and you post it again on Facebook.

Probably, nothing will happen. The thumbnail will stay the same. This is because of the cache. The Facebook Sharing Debugger will refresh the cache on your links after any adjustments, so remember to use it each time.

Facebook Object Debugger open graph meta tags

Open Graph Meta Tags for Twitter: Twitter Cards

Like Facebook’s Open Graph tags, Twitter Cards let you stand out from the crowd of tweets. They allow some additional content to be generated from your 140-character tweet.

This doesn’t show up on people’s feeds automatically, but it adds a little “View summary” button below the tweet.

Evolero 2 twitter open graph meta tag examples

When you click it:

Twitter Card Tags open graph meta tags example
Twitter Card Tags open graph meta tags example

It’s a tempting thing to click and provides a handy summary of the shared page—the Twitter Card. Surprisingly, not many sites take advantage of these tags. This is a big opportunity to make your tweets stand out in crowded Twitter feeds.

The best way to get them is to install one of the WordPress plugins. WordPress SEO by Yoast, mentioned above, does the job. If that’s not an option, ask your web developer and give him the ready-to-implement Twitter Card tags. Here’s how you’ll make them.

twitter:card

This required tag works in a similar way to og:type. It describes the type of content you are sharing. There are 7 options to choose from: summary, photo, video, product, app, gallery, and “large version” summary.

Depending on the type of content you choose, the link at the bottom of your tweet changes. You can get “View summary” for summaries, “View photo” for photos, etc. If this tag is not set, Twitter reads your link as a “Summary” by default.

Example:

<meta name=”twitter:card” content=”summary” />

twitter:title

This basically does the same thing as its OG counterpart. You specify the title for your article that will show up in bold. It’s smart to avoid repeating the same text you have in your tweet. Make the most of the space provided and let the two pieces of copy play on each other to reinforce the message. Use up to 70 characters.

Example:

<meta name=”twitter:title” content=”Your title here” />

twitter:description

Use this tag to write a descriptive lead to the page you are sharing. As with Open Graph tags, don’t focus on keywords because they won’t matter for your SEO. Create compelling copy that nicely complements your tweet and the title. Twitter limits this part to 200 characters.

Example:

<meta name=”twitter:description” content=”Your 200-character description here” />

twitter:url

This sets the canonical URL for the content you are sharing. (For more information, review the description for the equivalent Facebook Open Graph tag above.)

Example:

<meta name=”twitter:url” content=”http://www.yourdomain.com” />

twitter:image

Yes, you guessed it. This is how you set the picture to go with your tweet. Twitter allows two options, a card with a smaller or a larger picture.

You decide which one you want in the type tag. If you go for the large option, make sure it has a resolution of at least 280x150px and that the file size is not more than 1MB. You can consider using the same trick as with the Facebook thumbnail: add some text to the image to boost the message.

Example:

<meta name=”twitter:image” content=”http://www.yourdomain.com /image-name.jpg” />

Request Approval from Twitter

Keep in mind that, before you can fully benefit from Twitter Cards, you need to request approval for your page from Twitter. Fortunately, this doesn’t take much time and can be done easily using their Card Validator. Once you get approval, Card Validator serves exactly the same purpose as the Facebook Sharing Debugger, allowing you to check your links before you commit.

Twitter Card Plugins

Just like with Facebook, there are plenty of plugins available for implementing Twitter Cards. Here are a few:

How to Implement Open Graph Meta Tags

How do you implement OG tags? Basically, they belong to the <head> part of your page’s HTML. If you don’t manage the code, you’ll need to ask your web developer for help. You can prepare the whole package yourself using the tips above to save his valuable time.

If you are using WordPress, just install one of the plugins that neatly implements the code for you. I like to use WordPress SEO by Yoast, but there is an official Facebook Plugin and others to choose from.

Wordpress SEO by Yoast for open graph meta tags

Here are other OG plugins/extensions/add-ons for:

Open Graph Meta Tags Conclusion

The final code for both Facebook and Twitter should look more-or-less like this:

final code screen open graph meta tags conclusion

It might seem a bit confusing, but luckily there are several tools that make the process easier — you don’t need to know how to code.

It’s surprising how few people optimize these tags. It’s worth doing because it helps you stand out and draw more clicks and views, and it can even help improve your SEO —all things that lead to more profit.

Have you implemented open graph meta tags? How has it impacted your site?

Distribution Channels: What They Are, Types, & Examples

Have you defined the distribution channels that will be used by your company?

If not, it’s time.

In short, distribution channels determine the path goods will take from the manufacturer to the final consumer.

Thus, they have direct impact over sales.

There are many types, formats, and levels of distribution channels.

The first step is to understand each of them.

To help you with this task, this page will go over the main things you need to know about distribution channels:

  • what distribution channels are
  • the three types of distribution channels
  • three distribution methods
  • distribution levels
  • the main intermediaries
  • how to define them

What Are Distribution Channels?

What are distribution channels?

Distribution channels are the path products take from their initial manufacturing stage to selling them to consumers. The main goal of these channels is to make goods available to final consumers in sales outlets as soon as possible.

Distribution channels directly impact a company’s sales, so you want to make them as efficient as possible.

The Three Types of Distribution Channels

There are three ways to make sure a product gets to the final consumer.

1. Direct Channels

With direct channels, the company is fully responsible for delivering products to consumers. Goods do not go through intermediaries before reaching their final destination. This model gives manufacturers total control over the distribution channel.

This is the case with people who do catalog sales, for example.

Since the manufacturer alone is responsible for delivering products, this channel generally makes it impossible to have a high number of customers.

At the same time, it’s possible to offer lower prices, since the company does not have to pay commission to intermediaries.

2. Indirect Channels

With indirect channels products are delivered by intermediaries, not by the sellers.

Who are these intermediaries? They could be wholesalers, retailers, distributors, or brokers, for example.

In this case, manufacturers do not have total control over distribution channels.

The benefit is that this makes it possible to sell larger volumes and sell to a range of customers. However, products have higher prices due to the commissions paid to intermediaries.

3. Hybrid Channels

Hybrid channels are a mix of direct and indirect channels.

In this model, the manufacturer has a partnership with intermediaries, but it still takes control when it comes to contact with customers.

One example is brands that promote products online but don’t deliver them directly to customers.

Instead, they nominate authorized distributors.

Three Methods for Distribution Channels

There are three different delivery methods for distribution.

Basically, they concern who will be allowed to sell your products.

1. Exclusive Distribution

With exclusive distribution, intermediaries take the company’s products to specific sales outlets.

This is usually done by a sales representative.

This means that only exclusive retail outlets will be able to sell the items to consumers.

Depending on the quality of the product, this is a great strategy not only for manufacturers but also for the retail outlets or chain stores selected.

2. Selective Distribution

With selective distribution, the company allows sales to a specific group of intermediaries who are responsible for selling items to final customers.

An important factor in how succesful this strategy will be is the reputation of the intermediaries since they have a direct impact over the company’s performance.

In this case, the intermediary becomes the real consultant for consumers, answering questions and recommending appropriate products for their needs.

3. Intensive Distribution

In intensive distribution, the manufacturer tries to place their product in as many sales outlets as possible.

The manufacturers themselves, sales teams, and commercial representatives are all involved in this method. They are responsible for distributing products to sales outlets.

This distribution method is generally used by manufacturers of low-cost products with a high frequency of consumption.

Distribution Channel Levels

Besides the types and methods of distribution channels, they may also operate on different levels.

Their levels represent the distance between the manufacturer and the final consumer.

Level 0 Distribution Channel

In this level, there is a close and direct relationship between the manufacturer and the client.

For the company, the costs of the relationship with the consumer are higher.

Level 1 Distribution Channel

In level 1, the manufacturer sells the products to the distributor, who might sell it to consumers via retailers or wholesalers.

The distributor keeps some of the rights to the product, but not all.

The distributor is also responsible for the costs of sales and transportation to sales outlets.

Level 2 Distribution Channel

Level 2 is similar to level 1.

The difference is that in this case, the distributor delivers products only to retailers, who sell them to consumers.

Level 3 Distribution Channel

Level 3 channels are a traditional distribution model.

The product’s journey from the manufacturer involves distributor, retailer, and customer.

The costs relative to sales and marketing are divided between the parties.

The advantage of this model is that it’s possible to reach a larger number of consumers.

On the other hand, products have a higher price because of the operational costs of all the parties involved.

The Nine Main Intermediaries in Distribution Channels

After finding out more about operation details, it’s time to see who are the main intermediaries who take products to consumers.

1. Retailers

Retailers are intermediaries used frequently by companies.

Examples include supermarkets, pharmacies, restaurants, and bars. Each of these types of businesses has full sales rights.

Generally, product prices are higher in retailers.

2. Wholesalers

Wholesalers are intermediaries that buy and resell products to retailers. Wholesalers sell to those who are going to put products in their own stores.

These intermediaries generally don’t sell small quantities to final consumers, though there are exceptions, like supermarkets that sell in the wholesale model.

Prices are lower because sales involve large quantities.

3. Distributors

Distributors sell, store, and offer technical support to retailers and wholesalers. Their operations are focused on specific regions.

4. Agents

Agents are legal entities hired to sell a company’s goods to final consumers and are paid a commission for their sales.

In this case, the relationships between intermediaries and companies are for the long term.

5. Brokers

Brokers are also hired to sell and receive a commission.

The difference between agents and brokers is that brokers have short term relationships with the company.

That’s the case with real estate agents and insurance brokers, for example.

6. The Internet

To those who sell tech and software, the internet itself works as the intermediary of the distribution channel.

The consumer only has to download the material to have access to it.

E-commerce companies also use the internet as a distribution intermediary.

7. Sales Teams

A company can also have its own sales team who are responsible for selling goods or services.

There is also the possibility of creating more than one team to sell to various segments and audiences if the company has a wide range of products.

8. Resellers

Resellers are companies or people who buy from manufacturers or retailers to later sell to consumers in retail.

9. Catalog

Catalog sales, as the name indicates, is when a salesperson is connected to a company and sells its products using a magazine. Salespeople in this model also usually earn a commission for their sales.

This type of sales is common in the beauty segment, with brands like Avon and the Brazilian Natura.

Reverse Distribution Channel

Now you know the types and methods available for products to reach customers. But what happens when consumers need to return items to manufacturers?

Consumers need to rely on reverse distribution if they receive defective products or need to return clothes or shoes they bought online that don’t fit.

In this case, the consumer is responsible for returning the items and needs to find information from the manufacturer about how to do this. Usually, consumers find information about returns on the site for the product.

How to Define Distribution Channels for Your Product

How to define distribution channels for your product

Now you know the different types of distribution channels and intermediaries. But all this is of no use if you don’t know how to select the appropriate channel for your company.

Next up are seven essential tips to help you make this decision.

1. Benchmarking

First, you must look at your competitors to find the best practices they adopt.

This kind of mapping is known as benchmarking.

The idea is to figure out how your competitors are distributing their products and adopt a similar model.

2. Project Review

So you have mapped out best practices in the market and identified solutions that could work for your business.

Great.

The next step is to review the project/channel you created.

Check if there are errors and how processes may be optimized and adapt the project to the needs and characteristics of the type of sales you make.

3. Costs and Benefits

When we talk about distribution channels, one important factor is the cost associated with them.

Always look for the best cost-benefit ratio.

To do this, it is not enough to have a vague idea of the costs. You must record all costs and analyze if the benefits of the channel you selected are worth it.

4. Company’s Daily Routine

Another relevant factor is the business’ routine.

What are the projects, processes, and activities in your business?

The distribution channel must be aligned with all these details.

Otherwise, you might have logistics problems that result in product delays that damage your relationship with customers.

5. Market Potential

Before selecting a channel, you should also consider the market potential of intermediaries.

After all, unless you choose to use direct channels, they will also be responsible for sales results.

Analyze intermediaries’ market participation, reputation, and performance to only then try to select the most appropriate option.

6. Logistics

Consider logistical questions like:

  • How will products be transported?
  • Is there security for when the products are in transit and/or where they are stored?
  • Where will goods be stored?
  • What will be the delivery time, on average?

Considering all stages of logistics is crucial to avoid problems taking goods to sales outlets.

7. Location

Finally, consider the location of intermediaries, whether they are resellers, retailers, wholesalers, or distributors.

After all, your product must be sold in the region where your target audience is, especially if you supply a specific niche of the market.

Managing Distribution Channels

How should you manage your company’s distribution channels? This is usually the responsibility of marketing departments.

To do it, it’s essential to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs).

Carry out regular assessments of reports with metrics and indicators related to distribution processes.

Monitor sales indicators, for example, analyzing the performance of each channel the company uses.

Also, carry out satisfaction surveys with consumers, especially when customers are dissatisfied with the selection and availability of goods or when sales volume is below expectations.

Examples of Distribution Channels

Examples of distribution channels

Before concluding this reading, how about we get to know two examples from great companies?

Coca-Cola’s Distribution Channels

The largest soft drink manufacturer in the world uses different sales channels with franchisers, distributors, and retailers.

For example, soft drinks get to different retailers thanks to distributors.

This includes bars, restaurants, and supermarkets, who sell directly to final consumers.

Natura’s Distribution Channels

Cosmetics brand Natura basically uses catalog distribution, though today there are sales outlets as well.

The company has a network of consultants that sell to consumers using magazines showing the products.

Distribution Channels Conclusion

Are you ready to define and manage distribution channels for your company?

Follow the steps I mentioned in this article, from benchmarking to sales outlet analysis.

Consider the cost-benefit ratio of each channel.

And regardless of your choice, always monitor indicators and metrics.

This analysis makes it possible to check the efficiency of the distribution channel so you can optimize it constantly.

Did you like the tips in this article?

Leave a comment with your opinion or any questions you may have.

What are the Different Types of Business Loans and How Can You Tell What’s Best for You?

What are All the Different Types of Business Loans?

There are several different types of business loans out there.

All Businesses Need Funding

It’s that simple. You would be hard-pressed to find a business owner that doesn’t know that. What many do NOT know is that there are many more types of small business loans out there than the traditional banks loans everyone knows about.

Choosing Among the Many Different Types of Business Loans Means Knowing What’s Right for You

Knowing the different types of small business loans is only half the battle. You have to know how to figure out which one is right for you. The answer to that will vary based on a number of factors, and it may even change over the course of your business.

But the right type of loan for your business now may not be the right type for your business later. The best way to start figuring out which loan is right for your business is to figure out what’s available. Did you know that traditional bank loans are not the only option?

Types of Small Business Loans

There are many more, including:

  • SBA loans
  • 401(k) financing
  • Merchant Cash Advances
  • Equipment Financing
  • The Credit Line Hybrid
  • Traditional Lines of Credit

Let’s dive in to each one and figure out which one is best for your business right now

Different Types of Business Loans: SBA Loans

Guaranteed by the federal government. Issued by participating lenders, usually banks. They offer a lot of the perks of traditional loans, such as lower interest rates and favorable terms. Due to government guarantee, lenders are able to offer them to those with a lower credit score than would typically be required.

Eligibility for SBA Loans

Lenders and loan programs have unique eligibility requirements. In general, eligibility is based on what a business does to receive its income, the character of its ownership, and where the business operates. Hence even those with bad credit may qualify for startup funding.

Normally, businesses must meet size standards, be able to repay, and have a sound business purpose. The lender will provide you with a full list of eligibility requirements for your loan. See www.sba.gov/document/support–table-size-standards.

More About Eligibility for SBA Loans

General eligibility also includes:

  • Being a for-profit business – the business must be officially registered and operating legally
  • Doing business in the US – the business must be physically located and operating in the US or its territories
  • Having vested equity – the owner must have invested their own time or money in the business
  • Exhausting other funding options – the business must not be able to get funds from any other financial lender

Ideal credit scores for an SBA loan are 680 or above. There are a number of SBA loan programs, each one designed to work for different needs and situations. Some of the most common SBA loan programs include:

  • 7(a) loans
  • 504 loans
  • Microloans
  • Disaster loans
  • Express loans

These are just a few the of the options available. Find out more at SBA.gov.

Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.

Which SBA Loan is Best?

The thing about SBA loans is that they each have a specific purpose. For example, if your business has suffered due to a natural disaster, you need a disaster loan. If you need $50,000 or less, a microloan may be the best option. But the 7(a) loan program is the most versatile.

SBA 7 (a) Loan Program Details

A standard 7(a) loan can be for up to $5 million. The maximum SBA guarantee is 85% for loans up to $150,000 and 75% for loans greater than $150,000. The interest rate varies but cannot exceed the SBA maximum. The turnaround is 5 – 10 business days. These funds can be used for a number of things, and the minimum credit score is 640. But of course the higher the better.

Who Do SBA Loans Work Best For?

These loans work well for those that are not in a hurry to get funding

The approval and funding process can take a while, especially with the government red tape required for the government guarantee. If you can wait, meet all the requirements, and want a more traditional type of loan, SBA loans are an option.

Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.

Different Types of Business Loans: 401(k) Financing

If you have an eligible 401(k), you can use those funds to get money for your business. You must not be currently contributing. You must not longer be working for the company that the 401(k) is under. And you must have a balance of at least $35,000.

You can even still earn interest on your account, and there are no tax penalties. Personal credit doesn’t really matter much. Interest rates are usually low.

401(k) Financing Details

In fact, they are  often less than 5%. Close and fund in less than 3 weeks. Can usually get up to 100% of what’s “rollable” within your 401(k). This type of loan works well for anyone that has an eligible 401(k) account.

Different Types of Business Loans: Merchant Cash Advances

Businesses that accept credit cards as a form of payment may qualify for a merchant cash advance. This means your business must have a merchant account in order to be able to accept credit card payments. Your business must bring in $100,000 or more per year in credit card sales. Typical approval is equal to one month’s credit processing volume. The minimum credit score is 500.

Qualifying for a Merchant Cash Advance

They do not ask for a lot of documents. This is not like what most conventional lenders will want. You won’t need financials, business plans, or resumes. You don’t even need collateral.

Your business’s credit card receipts and business bank statements tell lenders all they need to know. These loans work well for businesses that qualify and need funds fast, and those with credit that is less than perfect. It’s a great way to get money for  your business fast with few requirements.

Different Types of Business Loans: Equipment Financing

Businesses looking to buy or lease equipment can use equipment financing. Rates vary widely depending on risk factors. Usually can get approval with a 650 or better credit score. This is for major equipment only, not a combination of a lot of small equipment. These loans work well for those that have good credit and just need to financing equipment. The equipment is the collateral, so that helps out some with rates.

Credit Line Hybrid

It can provide some of the highest loan amounts and credit lines for startups. You can get 0% business credit cards with stated income. There are no financials required. These report to business CRAs; you can build business credit at the same time. This will get you access to even more money without a personal guarantee.

Credit Line Hybrid Details

You can usually get a loan of five times the amount of current highest revolving credit limit account. This is up to $150,000. Easily five times what you could get on your own when applying for cards. You can get cash out on this program as well.

Credit Line Hybrid Benefits

There will be no impact on your personal credit with this type of financing. You need a 680 credit score or a guarantor with good credit to get an approval. In addition, this type of financing report to the business credit reporting agencies. This means you can build stronger business credit while funding your business.

Who Does the Credit Line Hybrid Work Best For?

This is a good option for virtually everyone. Because even if you have bad credit, you can get funding by using a credit partner. Works especially well for those who need to build business credit.  See www.creditsuite.com/business-loans.

Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.

Different Types of Business Loans: A Traditional Line of Credit

This is similar to a traditional term loan in terms of where you get it, and approval requirements. However, it is revolving financing more like a credit card. Typically have better interest rates that credit cards. They work well for those who qualify for traditional term loans but want revolving credit rather than a term loan.

Which Types of Small Business Loans are Best for Your Business?

If you know what types of business loans are available to your business, you can make a more educated decision about which types of business loans will work best for you. Knowing what’s out there is only half the battle. You also have to understand your own eligibility and funding needs.

The Different Types of Business Loans: Takeaways

All businesses need funding. Traditional term loans are not the only option. Other options exist to help you money faster. Or funding despite bad credit. And you can better rates and terms than you would get with a traditional term loan.

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5 Types of Bad Backlinks You Don’t Want

Backlinks refer to URL links from other websites that point back to your website. Yes, it’s all in the name. They are links back to your website.

Backlinks are an important component of a successful SEO strategy. Nurturing a network of backlinks from various sources can improve your site’s relevancy and reputation with search engines.

However, not every backlink is equal. Some can drive major traffic and improve your SEO. Others reflect negatively on your site.

Luckily, there are ways to find those bad backlinks and clean up your link profile so your overall optimization improves and users can find your site.

Good Vs. Bad Backlinks and Why It Matters

In the epic struggle between good backlinks and bad backlinks, the source matters. That’s really what it comes down to when determining whether a link is good or bad.

Let’s take a few steps back and talk about why search engines care in the first place. Why do they give merit to the sources of some backlinks while dinging others?

It comes down to user experience.

We all want to give our customers the best experience with our products or services.

Search engines, like Google and Bing, are no different. They also want customers who come back again and again because their experience was great.

How do you have a great experience on a search engine? You get the results you are looking for and find trustworthy websites that answer your questions.

Search engines prioritize websites with a positive reputation online. For backlinks to be effective, however, the websites linking to you need a good reputation as well.

How do you know what a good backlink is?

The best links happen organically (meaning you don’t pay or trade for them), add value to the website, and help the user better understand a topic. Sites that provide useful content to their users are generally a source of good backlinks.

Bad backlinks are pinged by search engines and lower your appearance in search engine results, are the opposite. They are artificial, forced, or irrelevant. They may be outdated, come from spam sites, or they might be from another site you own.

5 Bad Backlink Types to Watchout For

As you are working on your website’s search engine optimization, keep in mind there are several types of bad backlinks you don’t want.

In general, you want to avoid anything that feels disreputable or too good to be true. SEO takes time and doesn’t happen overnight. As you’re reviewing your SEO game, these are five of the most significant types of backlinks to avoid.

1. Links From Spammy Sites

Spam is not always easy to define, yet most of us know what it is. It’s ads irrelevant to you or sites that talk about illegal or predatory products. With spammy backlinks, it’s no different.

These are links back to your site from places you just don’t want to be associated with your brand.

It’s usually more than that. It’s not just a single backlink from a random competitor; it’s irrelevant links from places that could tarnish your brand’s reputation.

Some have described these types of spammy sites online as three Ps – pornography, pharmaceuticals, and poker. We’ve all had to remove these types of comments from blog posts and social media comments.

Your website could be receiving backlinks from these kinds of places and search engines may penalize you, especially if you start receiving tons of spammy backlinks.

If you’ve never researched your backlinks, now is the time. Use our Backlinks tool to get a list of backlinks to your site. Read through them, and you’ll start to notice the spammy ones.

Bad Backlink Types to Watchout For - Use Ubersuggest backlink checking tool

What can you do once you start to notice those spammy bad backlinks?

Google recommends you first do your due diligence to contact the websites where your backlinks are coming from and request removal.

Once you’ve done that, you can utilize the Google Search Console Disavow tool to request the removal of those links.

Remember, though, that one or two spammy links won’t kill your site’s SEO, so handle it accordingly.

Google’s algorithm tends to ignore these kinds of bad backlinks when assessing your SEO. However, if you, or an SEO specialist you are working with, find an exorbitant number of these backlinks, it may be worth disavowing them.

2. Links From Link-Mill Websites

Link-mill websites or paid link schemes have been popular for years. It’s easy to see why. They bring the number of backlinks many site owners think they need to up their SEO game.

The problem is more links aren’t always a good thing, especially when they come from dubious sources like link mills.

In general, Google and other search engines have worked to make their algorithms less manipulatable. In other words, they don’t want search engine results to go to the person who has purchased the most backlinks.

Google refers to these as link schemes, and can include links earned in exchange for money or other resources. This is especially true for batches of links or quick and easy link building.

There’s a good chance you’ll come across all kinds of opportunities that fall into this category. Anyone promising tons of backlinks that are sure to improve your SEO fast for cash fall into this category.

Large amounts of low-quality bad backlinks aren’t worth it in the end. Search engines keep getting smarter and no matter how clever the latest scheme seems, it’s going to be found out eventually.

What’s the alternative? In the same article about link schemes linked above, Google recommends creating high-quality marketing content. Links aren’t about quantity; it’s about quality.

Of course, you want to create consistent content over time, but keep it excellent. When you create content real people want to read, they’ll start to share it and use it as references in their content. That’s how natural, high-quality backlinking happens.

3. PR Release Links

Press releases can be a source of bad backlinks. But that doesn’t mean every press release opportunity is going to penalize your website.

The problem is how you do it. Google announced they don’t like press releases dripping with backlinks that don’t add value.

But here are the specifics. Yes, you can still create quality news releases and pitch them to relevant news sources.

You should, however, avoid filling a press release page with dozens of keyword-heavy links back to your site and then spamming it to dozens of newswires. The problem really comes in when brands do this repeatedly, trying to build backlinks to up their SEO.

It’s about trying to manipulate the search engines. SEO takes time. Trying to make it happen with seemingly simple solutions, such as pumping out link-laden press releases, just isn’t going to work.

Search engines have gotten too smart and will either ignore or penalize these methods.

4. Links From Sites Unrelated to Your Industry

We’ve been talking a lot about spammy and slimy backlinks, but sometimes bad backlinks are just not relevant to your business or valuable to your readers.

For example, if you run an e-commerce pet store, a link from a pet grooming site might be useful—it’s relevant to your audience. A link from an Italian cheesemaker, not so much.

Not every backlink is a great one if it’s wildly irrelevant or from somewhere completely unrelated to what you do. I’m not just talking about those three Ps we mentioned above.

When you’re starting to build backlinks to your website from fields and industries not related to your own, it can create confusion.

If a lot of backlinks come from places unrelated to your brand (i.e. using key terms unrelated to your brand), things can start to get muddled. Suddenly, search engines start thinking unrelated keywords are relevant to your brand, and you can start falling in results for keywords that actually matter.

On NeilPatel.com, we write about anything related to digital marketing, including how to create an Instagram bio, how to build backlinks, and even how to help your mobile site rank faster.

Bad Backlink Types to Watchout For - Avoid Creating Unrelated Content

If I started writing about the best dog leashes, that would probably confuse the search engines. They’d think I should be ranking for that and dilute the rankings for terms I do want to rank for.

How can you remedy this one? If these backlinks are spam, as we discussed above, you don’t have to worry much about. Search engines are smart enough to ignore them, and you can disavow them if necessary.

However, these types of links tend to be related to your content marketing strategy. If you’ve started writing about a topic completely unrelated to your brand, you may start receiving a lot of backlinks from other places linked to that topic. Search engines may focus on that rather than your brand’s primary topic.

If this sounds like you, it is time to get your brand back on track. Start moving that unrelated content to other websites and build that reputation on a new platform while creating more content relevant to your industry.

5. Discussion Forum and Blog Comment Links

In the early days of the internet, discussion forums were all the rage. Even in our more modern online age, sites like Reddit prove that discussion forums are a popular place to chat with others interested in similar topics.

It’s a great way to get information about your car model, how to create the latest fad DIY, or get really geeky about a topic you love.

So go ahead and post and share in forums that get you excited. Have real conversations. These are not the kinds of activities that will get you pinged, even with a backlink.

However, as we have talked about before, avoid spammy manipulation moves. You’ll want to avoid tossing links randomly across the board, pun intended.

Like this one, on one of my posts about how to make your site load faster:

Bad Backlink Types to Watchout For - Discussion Forum and Blog Comment Links

Not relevant, and those links aren’t going to help their site at all.

Search engines can spot when backlinks are just keywords filled with links on forum after forum. They are becoming smarter, thanks to AI and natural language processing, and notice when it’s not a conversation, but a broadcast.

As you research backlinks to your site, if you find a batch from any discussion forums, you can disavow them as we discussed above. If anyone you hire is creating these types of links, it might be time to consider hiring someone new.

Conclusion

Link building is a crucial factor in building your online marketing strategy. You want to make a natural link network across the internet to tell search engines what your brand is about and prove you are relevant to your target market.

To be effective, however, backlinks should be organic and not spammy. Identifying and removing bad backlinks can help you stay on track to improving your ranking in search engines.

Which kinds of backlinks do you need to start removing from your website?

Comparing Types of Small Business Loans

Businesses need funding. It’s that simple. You would be hard pressed to find a business owner that doesn’t know that. However, what many do not know, is that there are more options than just traditional bank loans. In fact, here are 6 different types of small business loans, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. 

7 Types of Small Business Loans and Which One Is Right for You

Knowing the different types of small business loans is only half the battle.  Then, you have to figure out which one is right for your business.  The answer will depend on a number of things. Sometimes, you may not even get a choice. You may have to take what you can qualify for.  Still, knowing your options is the first step. Then, you can work on putting your business in a position to qualify for what will work best if you aren’t there yet. 

What Types of Small Business Loans are Most Common? 

  1. Types of SBA Loans

There are several types of SBA loans.  These are small-business loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration and issued by participating lenders, mostly banks. They can guarantee up to 85% of loans of $150,000 or less, and loans that are more than $150,000 they will guarantee up to 75%. The maximum loan amount they offer is $5 million. 

Due to the fact that these are SBA loans, meaning that they have a government guarantee, financial institutions are able to offer them at lower interest rates.

types of small business loans Credit Suite

Credit Line Hybrid Financing:  Get up to $150,000 in financing so your business can thrive.

What are the SBA Loan Options? 

Again, there are many types of SBA loans for various kinds of businesses and needs. Here are just a few. 

7(a) Loans 

This is the Small Business Administration’s flagship loan program. It offers federally funded term loans up to $5 million. The funds can be used for expansion, purchasing equipment, working capital and more. Banks, credit unions, and other specialized institutions, in partnership with the SBA, process these loans and disburse the funds.

504 Loans

These loans are also available up to $5 million and can buy machinery, facilities, or land. They are generally used for expansion.  Private sector lenders or nonprofits process disburse the funds.  Specifically, they work well for commercial real estate purchases.

Microloans 

Microloans are available in amounts up to $50,000. They work for starting a business, purchasing equipment, buying inventory, or for working capital. Contrary to most other SBA loan programs, financing comes directly from the Small Business Administration, with community based non-profits acting as intermediaries.

SBA disaster loans

Available in amounts up to $2 million, these funds are processed directly through the SBA as well. They are available to small-business owners that have been affected by natural disasters.

SBA Express loans

The turnaround for express loans is much faster, with the SBA taking up to 36 hours to give a decision. Necessary paperwork for application is less also, making express loans a great option for working capital, among other things, if you qualify. 

What Are the Best Government Small Business Loans? 

The 7(a) program is by far the most versatile. The funds can be used for a number of business needs. If you qualify, they are a great option. Credit Suite can help you get funding through this program. 

  1. Types of Small Business Loans: 401(k) Financing

Your existing 401(k) or IRA can help fund your business as well. The funds work as collateral for business financing. This program uses IRS proven strategies. Furthermore, you will pay no tax penalties, and you still earn interest on your 401(k). Rates are low, and this option usually has a quick closing and funding process as well. 

  1. Types of Small Business Loans: Merchant Cash Advances

If you accept credit cards as payment, you may qualify for a merchant cash advance.  The minimum credit score is 500.  Also, your business must bring in $100,000 or more per year in credit card sales.  Typical approval amounts equal one months’ credit processing volume.  So, you’ll also need 3-6 months of bank and merchant statements. 

  1. Types of Small Business Loans: Equipment Financing

This is one way to get financing to buy or lease new equipment.  Rates vary widely based on risk factors, but usually you can get approval with a credit score of 650 or better.

The lender will undervalue equipment by perhaps up to 50%. Remember, this is on major equipment only. Lenders won’t combine a lot of small equipment. You can get loans up to $2 million.

Equipment Sale – Leaseback

If you already own your equipment free and clear, you can use it as collateral for financing. The process involves selling the equipment to a lender for cash. Then, you lease it back from them. You need at least one larger piece of higher value equipment to qualify, and you can get funding in as little as 3 weeks.

types of small business loans Credit Suite

Credit Line Hybrid Financing:  Get up to $150,000 in financing so your business can thrive.

  1. Types of Small Business Loans: Credit Line Hybrid

One type of loan many business owners do not know about is  the credit line hybrid.   It allows you to fund your business with no collateral and typically very low interest rates.  No financials are required. Furthermore, it reports to the business credit reporting agencies. As a result, you build business credit, which will help you access more funding in the future. 

  1. Types of Small Business Loans: Traditional Business Lines of Credit

A traditional business line of credit is like a cross between a traditional loan and a business credit card. You go through a traditional bank and apply just like you would a loan.  It may be collateral based or not, depending on your lender’s requirements.  You may also use a guarantor to help reduce rates and get better terms if needed. 

The difference between a traditional loan and a traditional business line of credit is that the line of credit is revolving credit rather than a term loan. Like a credit card, you only pay back what you use. Also, lines of credit typically have lower interest rates than business credit cards. The trade off is, there are no rewards like cash back or air miles.

What is the Best Type of Loan for My Business?

Truthfully, the answer to this question varies. It depends on the specific situation your business is in at the specific time you need funding. The answer now may not be the answer later. However, here are some ideas of types of small businesses and situations that each option may work well for. 

SBA Loans

SBA government loans are an option for many business owners that find themselves stuck in the middle. For example, they may not qualify for a straight traditional loan, but still want to benefit from the lower rates and better terms these loans can offer. With a credit score slightly below what the banks typically require, many business owners can qualify for these government guaranteed loans.

401(k) Financing and Equipment Financing 

These types of small business loans are great for those business owners that have these assets to leverage.  They offer low rates and do not require credit scores as high as some other options. In fact, with the 401(k) financing, credit really isn’t an issue at all. The trick is, you just have to have a 401(k). If you do, and meet the requirements, these options can be a great way to get business funding

Merchant Cash Advance

This program is ideal for business owners who accept credit cards and need cash fast.  See, an MCA program is designed to help you get funding based strictly on your cash flow. As a result, you usually only have to provide your business bank statements. Generally, you do not have to submit a ton of documents.

You can get a merchant cash advance through Credit Suite. In fact, our merchant financing program is perfect for business owners with credit issues. Honestly, lenders are not looking for, nor do they require good credit to qualify. You can be approved for as much as $500,000 in financing with no collateral requirements and bad credit. 

Credit Line Hybrid

Maybe you do not do a lot of credit card business and still need funding. In that case, the credit line hybrid may be for you. You can usually get a loan of 5x the amount of your highest revolving credit limit account, up to $150,000. Honestly, this is more than what you could get on your own when applying for credit cards. Furthermore, you can get cash out on this program.

types of small business loans Credit Suite

Credit Line Hybrid Financing:  Get up to $150,000 in financing so your business can thrive.

Also, there is no impact on your personal credit with this type of financing. You need a 680+ credit score, but if you don’t meet that you can take on a credit partner who does. A lot of business owners use the good credit of friends or family to help them get the funding they need. 

Traditional Merchant Cash Advance

If you have strong personal credit and want the flexibility of revolving credit without the interest rates of a credit card, then this is for you. 

What are the Best Types of Small Business Loans? 

The answer to this question is not as cut and dry as it may seem.  There are a number of factors that make a difference. First, it depends on the needs of your business. Then, you have to consider what types of small business loans your business actually qualifies to get. 

The key to ensuring not only that you get the business funding you need right now, but that you are eligible for the best funding options for your business in the future, is to work with a business credit expert. They can guide you to the best funding now, and help you put yourself in a position to have even better options next time.

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