Direct mail advertising is exactly what it sounds like, mailing advertising materials directly to consumers homes or places of work.  Typically, direct mail advertising is used by targeting clients who are most likely to read the mail or respond to what is sent.  Businesses will build a database of all sorts of types of consumers, separated by age, sex, income, or a whole host of other characteristics. Direct mail can also refer to joint mailers or “coupons”, such as the value-pack or local mailings attached to reading materials.    

Many different groups will use direct mail advertising for their advantage, but there seems to be consistent use among certain organizations.  Political organizations heavily use direct mail advertising, as they try to solicit voters for elections or raise awareness of political events.  Financial institutions are also heavy users of direct mail, as they will send credit card and mortgage advertisements to per-existing banking consumers.  

While these groups are geared towards using direct marketing advertising, you should consider whether your business can benefit.  Professional services, such as lawyer offices, medical services, or tax services often do not use direct mailing, especially as many regulations exist to limit the types of advertisements they can utilize.  

Direct mail advertising does not work for all businesses, but can be helpful for numerous businesses, local, regional, or even national.  Consider whether your clients will be likely to respond to mailings sent to your house and whether your business will be received positively and negatively.  Some clients react negatively to what they consider “junk mail”, some react positively, and most will be neutral.  

Direct mail advertising will require some funds from your marketing budget in order to work.  The amount you spend will highly depend on the materials you are sending, how many units you send, and whether you spend for access to targeted mailing databases from other companies.  You should budget for your mailers to be sent multiple times, as it often takes a few attempts before certain clients will be reached and respond to them.  

You must determine who you can send your direct mail to.  Many states have restrictions on who can receive advertisements through the mail, as consumers in these states have the right to be excluded.  Always be aware of these rules before addressing your direct mail.  Many companies provide you with names and locations of people who should not be contacted.  

Your direct mail advertising should include the following: A response device, main letter, an envelope, and a brochure or other similar document.

A. The Response Device – You must provide a way for your consumer to contact you and further expand the relationship.  At minimum, you must have your business name and contact information prominent in your mailer.  You should also include return cards, forms, or any other way of getting your consumer to actively respond to your ad and contact you. 

B. The Main Letter – You must address your consumer in a professional manner and engage them with interesting content and new information.  This is the crux of your direct mail, so ensure that it will achieve maximum exposure and be received positively by your consumer base.  

C. The Envelope – While an envelope may seem like a simple and obvious part of direct mail advertising, you must put time and effort into creating an envelope that will garner attention to your consumer.  It is the first thing they will see when they get their mail and will determine whether they choose to open your mail.  The envelope must match your business and the consumer’s expectations.  Flashy and attention grabbing envelopes will grab attention, but may not be proper for all types of businesses.  Consult with consumers and clients to determine what type of envelopes will get their attention.

D. The Brochure – Besides the above, you should also include something for your consumer to review with the hope that they keep for their reference. Brochures are one way to try to get a consumer to hold on to your mailer for an extended period of time, but you can also use things like refrigerator magnets, calenders, bookmarks, or other useful items that can be sent.  While they may raise your overall costs, it is important that your direct mail remain with your consumer for an extended period of time, as they will review it when they need your services or products.  

Direct mail advertising can be very difficult to evaluate, as you will not know when people receive the mailers, what they think of when they read it, and whether they find the mailers positive or negative.  You should consider contacting some recipients and consumers who have become clients and ask them what they thought of them.  Many clients will be very open and their feedback will be crucial in understanding the reception of your mailers.  

Recent technology has made much of direct mailing less popular than it has in the past.  The ease of email, the transient nature of many residents, and the general dislike of “snail mail” by a younger generation has made targeted mailings seem out of date.  Instead, targeted mailing is now generally used to reach older populations who do not use the internet or other communication technologies.  Consider using internet advertising strategies if your target audience includes younger consumers.  

Many new laws in states across the country have begun to adopt Opt-Out laws, which require database companies to abide by the wishes of consumers who do not want their names on the lists and to receive direct mail advertising.  Maintaining these lists while taking names off the list is a very difficult task and often leads to direct mail being sent that violates these regulations.  Ensure that you comply with these opt out laws by using only reputable consumer lists from respectable companies.  If you have further questions, contact a legal professional with experience in advertising regulation.  

Property management is an aspect of real estate that deals with maintenance and other needs for property with the purpose of maximizing and preserving the value of the property.  The property may be managed by the property owner, tenant, or contracted property management company.

Real estate companies have the initial responsibility of property management with their interest in the property management is to maximize the value of the property to potential buyers.  After the duty of property management has passed to the buyer, the property owner and the tenant must agree to a level of property management duties.  This may range from full responsibility on the tenant or landlord or a hybridized agreement that has the landlord responsible for major repairs and other aspects of property management.

What are property management companies?

Property management companies act on behalf of a landlord and interact with the tenants of a property.  The property management company may collect rent, find tenants and contract for repairs.  In many situations, the property management company fulfills the role of the property owner in all cases, including disputes stemming from non-payment of rent, eviction and neighbor complaints.  Requirements for property management companies vary by state with some states requiring real estate licensing for property management companies.  This is to ensure that the property management companies are abreast of real estate law in the state and will abide by those laws when dealing with tenants.

There are a number of property management software available that can help property owners manage the expenses and rental income from properties.  Additional features in property management software include the ability to general rental documents, such as lease agreements and generate tax forms in compliance with state and local tax laws.  Popular developers of property management software include Quicken, MDansby and Advanced Management Systems.  Property management software can be online subscription based or Graphical User Interface based for use on personal computers for a flat fee.  Some programs have bulk pricing for use on multiple computers.  This will be useful for property management companies that wish to automate some of their systems.

Unlike property management, which is the management of a tangible investment, assets management is primarily the management of investment funds such as stocks, commodities and equity funds.  Asset management is broken up into fixed income, equity and alternative investments, which include hedge funds, and real estate investment.  Individuals that work within assets management may specialize in any of the previously mentioned categories, helping individuals invest and manage their assets wisely.  Assets management is measured against a benchmark, which denotes how well it is “performing” which is a measure of how well the investment returns are comparable to other similar assets under management.  The performance of assets is the best way to determine if the asset manager is investing your assets safely.

Project management is the organization of resources to meet a stated goal.  There are generally budgetary and monetary constraints on the projects that require skilled project management to avoid exceeding these restraints.  The mark of one that is experienced with project management is the ability to complete to project accurately within or even below the time and budget constraints.

In practical application, architecture and related fields such as construction require a great deal of project management.  These fields generally require teams of professionals to combine their expertise into a collaborative project.  The collaborative project is of course subject to time and budgetary constraints so whoever is tasked with project management in this initiative will be responsible for ensure that all members of the project are informed of their tasks and deadlines.  Such projects would not be possible without the use of project management tools.

Project management tools include a number of proven techniques and models for successful project managements.  One of the first developments in project management tools is the Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) which is a statistical tool developed by the US Navy.  The PERT project management tool was used to measure the progress of the development of weapons system.  The PERT project management tool was also used to plan events such as the 1968 Winter Olympic Games.

As with all project management tools the first step is determining the tasks to be completed as well as estimates of the time the phase of the project should require.  You will need to make optimistic, normal and pessimistic time estimates for the completion of each task.  The tasks are also arranged by predecessor tasks, denoting which tasks cannot be completed without the completion of a previous task.  Those using the PERT project management tool will need to calculate the expected time of completion using the following formula:

(Optimistic + (4)Normal + Pessimistic )  divided by 6

Let us say that task A can complete completed optimistically in 3 hours, normally in four hours and pessimistically in 6 hours, we can find the expected time of completion.

(3 + (4)4 + 6)/6

25/6

= The task should be completed in 4.16 hours

The next step is to create a Gantt chart with the time estimates.  The Gantt chart is a visual representation of the amount of time each task in the project and slack afforded by completing tasks ahead of time.  Tasks are shown from their start to expected completion date and arrows link predecessor tasks together.  It is important to identify a critical path, which is the string of tasks that will take the longest time to complete.  This is essential in the project management process to determining the ultimate length of the project.  There is no slack time on the critical path and this path needs to be completed in the shortest possible time.  There are computer programs that can help you plan a Gantt diagram, but these charts can be created easily by hand.

During this time search engines became relevant and started to appear to help users find information quickly. The generic search engine utilized models to finance their own services, such as pay per click programs. The earliest search engines incorporated such techniques; however, they were later combined as companies like Yahoo purchased the first forms of search engines.

When the Internet became more comprehensive, search engine optimization techniques and more specifically the consultants that comprised the industry expanded their offerings to aid businesses through the implementation of advanced marketing or advertising techniques. As a result of this outreach, new agencies sprouted focused primarily on marketing and advertising through the use of search engines.

The term search engine marketing or SEM was developed in 2001 to include the spectrum of activities which were involved in performing SEO, submitting sites to various directories, managing the paid listings that search engines offer, and developing online marketing strategies for organizations, businesses, and individuals.

How can SEM help my site gain more exposure?

There are numerous programs and advertising techniques that enable creators and owners of blogs or websites to expand their market share. The goal of every Internet business or website is to gain more viewers and increase the number of absolute unique visitors that visit the page each month. To do this, the operators and owners of a website can embark on several strategies and marketing techniques.

That being said, the primary means to achieve more “hits” or webpage views is to generate a firm standing within search engines. To achieve this, operators of a website can either pay for access to such search engines or they can develop algorithms to achieve “first page results” on a search engine.

SEM enables a developer or owner of a website to utilize various means of marketing; each strategy is incorporated to become more relevant in regard to search engine inquiries and their respective rankings. The most popular websites in the world are Goggle, Yahoo and Bing; these sites, which are most notably web search engines, are visited by users to find information in an expedited fashion.

In essence, these sites are middle-men or intermediaries for information. As a result of their popularity, it is essential to engage in SEM techniques to make your particular website or page more relevant to these search engines. Relevancy in this regard, simply means that when a user types in a keyword, your site will rank towards the top of the aforementioned search engines. The higher your listing or favorability with these search engines, the more page visits you will receive.

Business financing refers to the process of a business obtaining loans, money or capital to finance their operation. Business financing is undertaken by the majority of businesses, regardless of size or the product they intend to produce. The initiative is common, because in a small business environment, the typical entrepreneur does not possess enough personal money to start a business.

For bigger companies, business financing is also common, because very few companies can afford to purchase equipment, office space and other resources essential to run a business without taking a loan or financing their purchases. Because business financing is so common, there are a number of ways to finance a business operation, including loans from banks, business to business financing, government grants or loans, private financing (borrowing money from friends and family), etc.

Business to business financing is a process entities use to raise funds without going through a ban, brokerage house, or lender. Business to business banking allows a company to secure external finances from other businesses, while creating strategic partnerships that will help secure a competitive advantage.  Business to business finance is undertaken in a variety of ways including: issuing bonds, selling stock or securing direct investments.

Larger organizations that are publicly traded have the ability to sell bonds to other companies. These conservative investments are a fundamental form of debt financing; the bonds, which yield fixed payments over a course of time, are purchased by other companies or institutional investors, thus injecting the business with liquid cash. In addition to issuing bonds, publicly-held companies can sell stock to public investors to raise funds. The majority of shareholders will utilize dividend reinvestment plans, which take the periodic dividend payment and use those funds to automatically re-invest money into the company. In this form of business financing, the buyer can maximize his or her investment by not touching the funds generated, while the business will not have to worry about paying out the dividend, allowing them a stream of financing to increase their overall economic value. 

There are a number of types of minority business financing procedures that an entrepreneur or private business owner can undertake to finance their venture. The primary type of minority business financing that is available are introduced by the federal or state governments, not for profit organizations and financial institutions. In order to obtain this form of business financing, the owner must generate a proposal stating why they need the money and how their company will benefit the community. The majority of grants are offered because small businesses offer numerous positive externalities to the communities in which they are located. Additionally, entrepreneurialism is encouraged in the United States; the ability to finance a suitable and beneficial business effort is typically possible in the United States of America.

 

International Relations Defined:

 

 

International relations, as a subject, refers to the study of relationships between countries, including the role of governmental organizations, broader state-structures, international nongovernmental entities and multinational corporations. International studies, as a result of its participants, are both an academic and public policy subject; International Studies can be either normative or positive for it seeks to analyze, as well as formulate foreign policy relations of particular entities. 

 

 

International studies is most often connected to a branch of political science; however, international relations also draws upon a diverse array of fields, such as economics, international law, philosophy, international law, geography, psychology, cultural studies, sociology, social work and anthropology. Furthermore, international relations will involve a broad range of issues including: state sovereignty, ecological sustainability, globalization, nationalism, nuclear proliferation, organized crime, human security, human rights, economic development, global finance and human rights. 

 

 

Theories behind International Relations:

 

 

International relations, as a study, can be divided into two camps: positivist and post-positivist. The former refers to theories, which aim to replicate distinct methods of the natural sciences by analyzing the impact of various material forces. This theory primarily focuses on features of international relations such as the size of a military force, the balance of power within governing bodies and interactions between states. A post-positivist study of international relations, at its foundation, rejects the premise that the social world can be observed in an objective and value-free method. Post-positivist international relations will also reject the basic ideas of liberalism and neo-realism on the grounds that the scientific method is not meant to be applied to the social world. 

 

 

The primary difference between the two studies of international relations is that positivist theories, such as liberalism, offer casual explanations concerning government actions, a post-positivist theories focus on constitutive questions, such as what is a government action and what is meant by power? A positivist theory will investigate why power is exercised, while a post-positivist theory will evaluate how power is reproduced, what it is made of and how it is experienced. Positivist theories include realism, liberalism, neoliberalism and regime theory while post-positivist or reflectivist theories include, international society theories, social constructivism, Marxism, critical theory. Additionally, international studies also can be carried-out or evaluated through leadership theories, including interest group perspectives, strategic perspectives and various political psychologies. 

 

Steuben Glass, a name that once evoked images of prestige and sophistication, appears to be vanishing for good. The former American icon known for its handcrafted crystal is shutting down its only remaining factory. 

The last factory, located in Corning, New York, is being closed on November 29th of this year—a week after Thanksgiving. As profits have become elusive, the prospects of reviving the century-old vanity brand seem daunting and exceedingly slim. 

Although the exceptionally transparent glass is still lauded, the company has struggled to find its footing—in 2008 Corning Inc. sold the business to Schottenstein Stores Corp, a retail operator based out of Columbus, Ohio. 

The company’s struggles can be attributed to innovation failures. Critics cite uninspiring designs, an overseas production shift and the inclusion of cheaper engraving methods into the manufacturing process as principal contributors for the company’s demise. 

The failure to innovate coupled with a generation-long slide in demand for fine crystal was perpetuated by the financial crisis that rocked the United States in September of 2008. The majority of the factory’s 60 workers will be laid off and Steuben’s flagship New York store will shut its doors once inventory is sold off.  

A number of businesses and financial analysts predict that the United States’ economy will grow only slightly in 2011, a bleaker forecast that was offered in July, when most entity’s called for a stronger improvement. 

In its quarterly industry survey of 70 corporate economists, the National Association for Business Economics found companies have truncated plans to hire new employees. Ironically, this same survey found that more firms are reporting higher sales than declining ones. 

The economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics expect scant growth, with approximately 82% predicting the GDP will increase by 2% or less from 2010. 3% believe the economy will actually contract, representing a seismic shift from July, when the majority predicted the GDP to grow by 2.1% or more and the Federal Reserve believed a jump by 2.5 to 3.0% was expected.  

The United States Commerce department is set to release initial GDP data for the third quarter on Thursday, the 25th. These muted expectations are taking a toll on hiring; a mere 29% of those polled said they expect employment to increase over the next six months—the lowest projection since January of 2010. 

Not much has changed. Small business owners continue to remain apprehensive regarding their long-term success and the health of the overall market. A recent poll conducted by Wells Fargo and Gallup, which surveyed over 600 small business owners, revealed that entrepreneur’s in the United States remain hesitant and unconfident in their hopes of turning profits and succeeding in the long term.  

This outlook represents an unchanged attitude; small business owners remain as confident as they did at the end of the recession two years ago. 

The survey shows that business owner’s post-recession confidence peaked in the beginning months of this year. Although these surveys do not serve as an absolute measurable, they offer insight on how a business owner feels about their own company’s prospects and the macro economy in general. 

The poll revealed that small business owners’ cite credit problems and the inability to secure financing as the main impediments to success. 22% of small business owners cited taxes and government regulations as the most significant problem.