Tag: Customer Relationship Management

Systematic risk

Systematic risk is caused by the changes in government policy, the act of nature such as natural disaster, changes in the nation’s economy, international economic components, etc. The risk may result in the fall of the value of investments over a period. It is divided into three categories that are explained as under:

• Interest risk: Risk caused by the fluctuation in the rate or interest from time to time and affects interest-bearing securities like bonds and debentures.
• Inflation risk: Alternatively known as purchasing power risk as it adversely affects the purchasing power of an individual. Such risk arises due to a rise in the cost of production, the rise in wages, etc.
• Market risk: The risk influences the prices of a share, i.e. the prices will rise or fall consistently over a period along with other shares of the market.

Unsystematic risk

Unsystematic risk is the risk that is unique to a specific company or industry. It’s also known as nonsystematic risk, specific risk, diversifiable risk, or residual risk. In the context of an investment portfolio, unsystematic risk can be reduced through diversification while systematic risk is the risk that’s inherent in the market.

The risk can be avoided by the organization if necessary actions are taken in this regard. It has been divided into two category business risk and financial risk, explained as under:

• Business risk: Risk inherent to the securities, is the company may or may not perform well. The risk when a company performs below average is known as a business risk. There are some factors that cause business risks like changes in government policies, the rise in competition, change in consumer taste and preferences, development of substitute products, technological changes, etc.
• Financial risk: Alternatively known as leveraged risk. When there is a change in the capital structure of the company, it amounts to a financial risk. The debt–equity ratio is the expression of such risk.

The extended internal rate of return or the more commonly used, XIRR, is the rate which calculates the returns on the total investment made with increments, paid throughout the period under consideration.

XIRR is an annualized form of return. Annualized return indicates what investment would return over a time period if the annual return is compounded.

XIRR comes to an investor’s aid when investments are made into mutual funds at randomly spaced intervals. Moreover, redemptions are also processed at irregular time intervals. The time periods will differ for each cash flow. Each particular investment will offer a different rate of return at a given date of measurement.

XIRR= Weighted average CAGR of all instalments

IV= Investment Value (IV)

FV= Final Value (FV)

N= Investment intervals (n)

We understand it can be complicated to manually calculate XIRR for any investment. What’s more important is understanding its significance and need, especially when you are investing in mutual funds via SIP.

Therefore, XIRR can be used to calculate an investor’s mutual fund returns when investments and redemptions are spread over a period of time.

For example, Mr. A decided to invest Rs 50,000 in a thematic fund with the pharma sector as the theme on the news of the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. A redeems the invested amount on the news of economic recovery to look for better returns. Mr. A invests that Rs 50,000 in the consumer durables sector on the news of vaccine efficacy. On the release of auto sales data, Mr. A invested another Rs 50,000 in the auto sector with a short-term view to reap benefits of festive sales rally. Now, the investment and redemption time periods for each investment will be unevenly spaced. XIRR can be used to calculate the overall return on the invested corpus.

An investor may choose different options such as SIP, SWP, and lumpsum for different mutual funds. XIRR can be applied to such investment strategies.

XIRR, IRR, and CAGR can be quite confusing at times. CAGR and XIRR are both used to calculate returns on investment. XIRR can be referred to as an aggregate of multiple CAGRs. When there are multiple investments made in a fund, XIRR can be used to calculate the overall return.

There is a fine line of difference between CAGR and XIRR. CAGR is used to assess the performance of a mutual fund on a standalone basis. XIRR is computed to assess the performance of your investment in the mutual fund.

Let’s assume that one invests Rs 2000 per month for a year in a fund, which increases to Rs 48,000 in 4 years. How to calculate the overall return on this investment made over 12 months? If using CAGR, you will have to measure the CAGR for 48 months on the first installment, for 47 months on the second installment, for 46 months on the third installment, and so on. Instead of doing that, one can use the XIRR function of excel that takes into account all these CAGRs to give the overall CAGR.

XIRR and IRR functions of excel differ on the basis that the IRR function assumes that each period between a series of cash flows is of the same length. Rate of return on monthly, quarterly, or annual cash flows is generally measured using IRR. XIRR on the other hand offers to assign dates to the cash flows and doesn’t require each cash flow to be made after the same interval.

To summarise, if cash flows are made at regular intervals, IRR is preferred and if cash flows are not made at regular intervals then XIRR is preferred to measure the overall return.

Savings

Saving is setting aside some money for future expenses or needs. It is the first and foremost step towards leading a financially disciplined life. The savings fund comes as a boon during rainy days. A savings account or bank fixed deposits are some of the popular savings options in India. It is similar to holding cash. Our parents and grandparents have strongly believed in saving money for their children’s future to give them a comfortable life. That’s what kept them going and never touched their savings until and unless it was extremely necessary. While now most of us love to spend the money we earn and follow the ‘YOLO’ trend. Yes, You Only Live Once (YOLO). However, living without any financial hiccups should be the goal.

Objectives of Saving

• A rainy day fund for emergencies
• A down payment for a car or a home
• Putting money aside for a trip, new appliances, or a car
• Short-term educational expenses
• Utilizing alternatives for Tax-Free Savings Accounts

The pros and cons of saving

There are plenty of reasons you should save your hard-earned money. For one, it’s usually your safest bet, and it’s the best way to avoid losing any cash along the way. It’s also easy to do, and you can access the funds quickly when you need them.

All in all, saving comes with these benefits:

• Savings accounts tell you upfront how much interest you’ll earn on your balance.
• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation guarantees bank accounts up to Rs. 5,00,000, so while the returns are lower, you’re not going to lose any money when using a savings account.
• Bank products are generally very liquid, meaning you can get your money as soon as you need it, though you may incur a penalty if you want to access a CD before its maturity date.
• There are minimal fees. Maintenance fees or Regulation D violation fees (when more than six transactions are made out of a savings account in a month) are the only way a savings account at an FDIC-insured bank can lose value.
• Saving is generally straightforward and easy to do. There usually isn’t any upfront cost or learning curve.

Despite its perks, saving does have some drawbacks, including:

• Returns are low, meaning you could earn more by investing (but there’s no guarantee you will.)
• Because returns are low, you may lose purchasing power over time, as inflation eats away at your money.

Investing

Investing money is the process of using your money to buy assets that value over time and provide high returns in exchange for taking on more risk. Investments are typically volatile and illiquid. You earn returns by selling your assets for a profit or realising your capital gains.

Objectives of Investment

• Paying for your children’s higher education
• Building wealth for the future
• Saving for retirement

The pros and cons of investing

Saving is definitely safer than investing, though it will likely not result in the most wealth accumulated over the long run.

Here are just a few of the benefits that investing your cash comes with:

• Investing products such as stocks can have much higher returns than savings accounts and CDs. Over time, the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index (S&P 500), has returned about 10 percent annually, though the return can fluctuate greatly in any given year.
• Investing products are generally very liquid. Stocks, bonds and ETFs can easily be converted into cash on almost any weekday.
• If you own a broadly diversified collection of stocks, then you’re likely to easily beat inflation over long periods of time and increase your purchasing power. Currently, the target inflation rate that the Federal Reserve uses is 2 percent, but it’s been much higher over the past year. If your return is below the inflation rate, you’re losing purchasing power over time.

While there’s the potential for higher returns, investing has quite a few drawbacks, including:

• Returns are not guaranteed, and there’s a good chance you will lose money at least in the short term as the value of your assets fluctuates.
• Depending on when you sell and the health of the overall economy, you may not get back what you initially invested.
• You’ll want to let your money stay in an investment account for at least five years, so that you can hopefully ride out any short-term downdrafts. In general, you’ll want to hold your investments as long as possible and that means not accessing them.
• Because investing can be complex, you’ll probably need some expert help doing it unless you have the time and skillset to teach yourself how.
• Fees can be higher in brokerage accounts. You may have to pay to trade a stock or fund, though many brokers offer free trades these days. And you may need to pay an expert to manage your money.

Investing your money can be a fantastic way of building a better financial position for yourself and your family. It’s not possible to predict what the markets will do in the future, but these investing tips may help improve your investment success over the long term.

Leverage the power of compound interest

Over time, as your investments earn interest, if you reinvest those earnings, you earn interest on your interest. This is the core idea of compound interest. Without any extra effort on your part, compounding interest and time work together to potentially increase your investment returns.

If you start saving early, you take advantage of the effects of compounding interest on your investments over a long period of time. This has the potential to increase your total returns.

Embrace an Investing Strategy

It’s important to know what kind of investor you are and adhere to the principles of your investing strategies.

Use Rupee-cost averaging

Sticking to the discipline of Rupee-cost averaging can help you avoid making emotional decisions based on market turbulence. With Rupee-cost averaging, you invest a certain amount of money at regular intervals, regardless of what the market is doing. By always investing the same Rupee amount every month or other chosen period, you naturally buy fewer shares when the market is high and more shares when the market is low.

Asset Allocation

Your asset allocation, how you divide your portfolio among different asset categories, will be the biggest determinant of your investment returns. Many investors fail because they put little thought or effort into their asset allocation strategy.

If you place your money into overvalued asset categories you will experience poor long term returns. It’s important to overweight asset categories that are bargain priced and underweight or avoid asset categories that are expensive.

Know the risksInvesting your money can be a rewarding experience because of the risk involved in the process. Generally speaking, the greater the risk, the greater the reward. However, an acceptable risk for one person may not be an acceptable risk for the next. While investing your money may sound daunting, you don’t have to manage your portfolio yourself as long as you understand the risks behind investing your money, you can hire a portfolio manager to do the legwork for you. Are you comfortable losing money if the stock market performs poorly or does any sort of investment loss make you nervous? These are the types of questions to think about and discuss with an advisor to help gauge your tolerance for risk.

Investors with more time to recoup market losses may be more comfortable taking risks. However, as you near retirement or if you’re already retired, you may want to adjust your risk tolerance to make sure your investments are consistent with your goals.

Know your financial limitations: There is a very real risk to investing more than you can afford. If you want to make the most of your investments, your money shouldn’t be keeping you up at night. Instead, it is far better to invest an amount each month which is appropriate to your financial situation.

Keep Expenses Low

Most investors don’t realize how much difference high expenses make to their portfolio. Take a look at the what happens to your returns with a 1% higher expense ratio;

Review and rebalance your portfolio regularly

Over time, investments within your portfolio will grow at different paces. As a result, your diversification and asset allocation can become unbalanced. Add in any changes to your income, risk tolerance or family situation and your investments may no longer reflect your goals. An annual review of your portfolio with your advisor will give you an opportunity to fine-tune and rebalance your portfolio to help you stay on track toward meeting your financial goals.

Branding skills

Competitive analysis

To do this well, brand managers look at all the messaging and historical data from a company, their main competitors and other companies in their niche.

The idea is to map the landscape around the client, Marom said.

This is a lot less work in an emerging space (like NFT marketplaces) than in a huge, historic space (like department stores). But it still takes more analytical skills than might meet the eye.

The best brand marketers analyze audience data and communications from two main types of competitors:

Direct competitors, whose products are similar to yours. Think Calm vs. Headspace, Rosenberg said.

Indirect competitors, whose (very different) product solves the same problem yours does for your target audience. An example from Rosenberg: Headspace vs. CBD companies.

This is the most analytical part of brand marketing  mapping a market, and spotting holes and it takes a pro to do it well.

What happens if your brand marketer isn’t up to speed on competitive analysis or marketing analytics tools? You could end up looking and sounding like everyone else.

Sometimes, brands do this on purpose “but, in my opinion, [it’s] lazy at best… and usually much worse,” Rosenberg said.

Another downside of shoddy competitive analysis, according to Sullivan: “miscommunications with consumers that make it harder for brands to earn trust and build relationships.”

Imagine highlighting a strength just because it seems people really want it, even though your brand doesn’t have it. That’s a recipe for disappointed customers.

Brand positioning

If competitive analysis is understanding the globe, your brand position is a pinpoint on that globe.

Brand positioning is made up of three key components, Rosenberg said:

• Audience, or who your brand is uniquely speaking to
• Value props, or what you’re uniquely offering to them
• Voice and persona, or how you’re communicating that

Brand strategy

A brand marketer with a strong skillset in brand strategy builds out overarching guidelines that ensure your company’s short, medium and long-term plans support your brand position.

Brand management

Brand strategy takes holistic thinking, but brand marketers are detail-level thinkers, too. They’re skilled at brand management, which involves implementing brand guidelines at a more department-by-department and case-by-case level.

Internal communication

To do their jobs well, brand marketers must be able to sync with key stakeholders and team members across the company on vision, goals, creative hunches, origin stories and individual personalities.

Ideally, when they talk to senior leaders, they “bring them through the brand journey that the customer is going on to help them understand where and why these could be pain points for a customer,” Sullivan said

Marketing skills

Understand their customers

Customers are at the core of marketing. You cannot sell anything to anyone unless they want it. If marketing is about satisfying customer needs, then first you must understand those needs. This means being able to identify customers’ problems, sometimes before they do, and find a way of addressing those needs and problems through the products and services that you provide.

Know their market

Marketers also need to know what is happening in the market. This means knowing what other companies are offering, what suppliers are doing, and what complementary products exist. They must become subject matter experts on their market.

One way to understand the market is to use a strategic analysis technique like Porter’s Five Forces or the 7 Ps of Marketing. This provides a structural way of examining the market, ensuring that you have considered every aspect of the situation.

Think creatively to identify new approaches

Marketing may be increasingly data-driven, but that does not mean that there is no place for creativity. Marketers are good creative thinkers, able to use their skills in generating ideas to find new ways to reach out to customers and create customer experiences that are more memorable (for the right reasons).

Communicate effectively in writing and orally

Good marketers are very effective communicators, in writing, in face-to-face meetings, and in presentations. They are able to get their point across simply and succinctly, often in a new way that will grab their audience’s attention.

Networking skills

Networking skills are competencies that help you in building personal and professional social contacts. It is an essential skill for many industries, including sales, business development, retail, banking and others. Networking allows you to meet new people, exchange ideas and find new job opportunities. You build strong connections with your colleagues, friends, family members, clients, customers, professors or personal acquaintances when your network. Connecting with such people can prove beneficial for your career.

Here are a few reasons why networking is essential:

Opens new job opportunities: Networking is an excellent way to advance your career because you contact a professional who may have information about a job that a recruiter is yet to share on different job boards.

Builds self-confidence: The more you interact with people, the more you can build your self-confidence and social skills.

Enhances communication skills: Networking gives you a chance to communicate your ideas to others and explain your potential to them. This can improve your verbal communication skills.

Helps in finding mentors: Whether you are an entry-level or experienced professional, you may require guidance in your career. Networking facilitates the opportunity to find and connect with people who have vast experience in your field and could become your mentor.

Improves elevator pitch: When you meet new people, you give a brief description of who you are, your strengths and your background. This brief introduction is your elevator’s pitch that can help you form a lasting connection with a professional.

7 Networking Skills

There are different skills required for networking with people. Some of these are:

Communication

Communication is the exchange of ideas from one person to another. It helps you use the right tone so that you receive a response from the other person. When networking with people, this skill helps you effectively communicate and deliver the intended message. You may require written communication skills to build and maintain relationships on social media networks and professional networking websites.

Active listening

Active listening is the ability to focus on what the speaker is saying and responding thoughtfully to their message. It is an important skill to grow your network because you show them respect and understand their message by listening to others. Active listening skills involve smiling, making eye contact and using other non-verbal cues to showcase that you are listening to the speaker.

Public speaking skills

At networking events, you may interact with a large group of people to build connections. This requires excellent public speaking skills. Public speaking skills help improve the way you articulate, helping the other person understand what you are trying to say.

Social skills

Social skills are the skills that require you to interact with others in a personal and professional environment. These include words and gestures, visual cues, body language and appearance. Reaching out to people you are meeting for the first time or meeting with colleagues outside of office hours can help you build and manage long-term relationships.

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand another person’s emotions and state of mind. It is an important skill for networking because people prefer sharing their emotions and experience with empathetic people. Asking questions related to the situation and approaching a situation based on the viewpoint of others can help you network better with people.

Positivity

Often, people prefer to interact with individuals who showcase a positive demeanour and are friendly. A positive attitude and perspective toward everything can help you develop a strong rapport and make you likeable and memorable. As people naturally gravitate to positive people, building positive relationships in the workplace and outside becomes easier.

Emailing skills

Even after the advent of social media, email remains a preferred choice for most businesses to exchange professional messages. But certain email rules are essential to ensure recipients read and act upon your email. Keep emails short, precise and succinct to develop a long-lasting business relationship. Also, perform a little research into the recipient and tailor the message based on their interest to make a positive impression.

Organization skills are soft skills that help you manage expectations, stay on top of tasks, and deliver results in a timely fashion.

Communication

Another important organizational skill to consider is communication. Your communication skills are based on how well you share and receive information in the workplace. If you are an organized communicator, you will be able to give other members of your team the information they need in an effective and timely manner. Organized communicators prioritize efficiency in the workplace by responding to requests quickly, giving instructions accurately and relaying information reliably.

Time management

Managing your time well is crucial to being organized. Time management involves allowing yourself enough time to finish tasks, not spending too much time on any one project and balancing the time you spend at home and work. Managing your time is important because it helps you conserve your energy and stay calm in a fast-paced environment. Deciding when and how to use your time is a fundamental element of workplace organization.

Setting goals

Organization in the workplace also involves setting achievable goals. Organized employees can set personal and professional goals that inspire them to work hard and perform well. Being an organized professional should involve setting daily and weekly goals that structure your efforts and keep you focused on your employer’s objectives. Achieving goals regularly is a sign of a well-organized employee who uses their resources well.

Working under pressure

Organization is particularly important in high-pressure situations. In fast-paced environments and workplaces that enforce strict deadlines, being organized is critical to an employee staying calm and focused. If you can effectively schedule your time, manage your energy and use your resources, working well under pressure can make you a valuable asset in your workplace.

Delegation

In many cases, being organized means knowing your limits. If an employee’s responsibilities become more than they can handle, they may need to assign one or more of their tasks to a coworker. An important part of delegation is knowing which team member is the most qualified to finish a particular task or project. If you can list and organize your tasks and decide which to delegate, you may be able to improve the productivity of your entire team.

Self-motivation

An important element of organization is the ability to take initiative. Organized employees are well-aware of the tasks they need to complete and can work on assignments without supervision or assistance. If you can earn a reputation for being organized and self-sufficient in your workplace, you will likely be given even more opportunities to use your skills and develop professionally.

Analytical thinking

Analytical thinking involves the ability to read and interpret information to come to reasonable conclusions. Being organized at work often involves organizing your thought process. Being able to think about a problem logically and determine the source of the issue will help you overcome setbacks quickly and avoid delays.

Decision-making

Organized employees are skilled decision-makers. Making well-thought-out decisions involves collecting all the necessary information, considering the consequences and thinking ahead to predict outcomes. If you are skilled in organization, you will likely have the communication skills, logical mindset and goal-oriented attitude necessary for making effective decisions.

Attention to detail

This organizational skill relates to how mindful and thorough you are in your work. Organized employees recognize that taking the time to do a job well the first time will save them from extra effort later on. Being organized means having the time and energy to make sure every aspect of a task is properly handled and that each step of a project is completed correctly.

Strategic planning

Being organized involves making the most of your time and energy. A crucial part of this is planning out how you plan to use your resources. This often involves keeping a detailed calendar, using a focus timer and scheduling meetings days or weeks in advance. Thinking ahead and planning accordingly can help organized employees to stay on top of their workload and to avoid missing deadlines.

Strategic thinking is a combination of many modes of thinking, including analytical, creative, visionary, contradiction, tactical, gut-feeling (intuitive), chronological, holistic, and critical among others.

Use strategic thinking when you:

• Have a difficult “roadblock” that impedes your ability to meet a goal or a future desired state
• Have a group of experts in the room that need to work together to solve a complex problem
• Want to focus on the long-term versus the short term
• Want to use what you have to maximum advantage [i.e. leverage]
• Want to not “do things the way they have always been done around here”
• Have inaccurate information and/or conclusions, and are able to treat any conclusions as tentative or hypotheses.

Important

The competitive landscape can change quickly for any organization. New trends may emerge quickly and require you to take advantage of them or fall behind. By incorporating everyday strategic thinking into your work and life routines, you will become more skilled at anticipating, forecasting, and capitalizing on opportunities.

On an individual level, thinking strategically allows you to make a greater contribution in your role, become more essential to your organization, and prove that you’re ready to control greater resources.

Strategic Thinking in Business

During an organization’s annual strategic planning process, leaders often compile, analyze, and synthesize external and internal data and ideas to develop its strategic intent and build a strategic narrative. This document will guide the company into the future for a defined period of time. Leaders then choose and plan specific actions that will accomplish these strategic initiatives.

Businesses also need to schedule a time for strategic thinking and reviews throughout the year. Leadership teams should periodically examine their strategic initiatives to ensure execution is taking place, review, and sustain the effort across the organization.

Strategic Thinking in Leadership

Business leaders and stakeholders use strategic thinking and analysis to decide what product mix they’ll offer, what competitive landscape to compete in (or not compete in), and how limited resources will be allocated such as time, employees, and capital. They must decide how to best structure enroll others to achieve important objectives and to avoid putting resources at unnecessary risk of loss.

Strategic Planning

“Strategic planning is an organization’s process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. It may also extend to control mechanisms for guiding the implementation of the strategy.”

“A systematic process of envisioning a desired future, and translating this vision into broadly defined goals or objectives and a sequence of steps to achieve them. In contrast to tactical planning (which focuses at achieving narrowly defined interim objectives with predetermined means), strategic planning looks at the wider picture and is flexible in choice of its means.”

Based on our thinking on strategic thinking above, we would urge you to also consider that strategic is about ensuring you and the group really dig deeply to look at what gets in the way of implementing your vision. This means looking at root causes or in the Technology of Participation (ToP) model of strategic planning, we call this contradictions to the vision. This is a unique piece in the ToP method that we have found to be extremely valuable to organizations and groups.

Some common scenarios that lead people to the need for strategic planning include:

Structural Changes. Your organization has recently acquired, been acquired or merged with other departments or organizations. When this happens you need to bring together different cultures, address mistrust and often adjust your mission statement. Or, you have had a lot of changes in personnel new leaders, key staff are coming on board.

Economic Changes. Your organization has recently had a significant increase or decrease in funding. You may need to make some hard choices about priorities because you either have fewer resources to do the work of the organization or you seem to have lost your mission focus.

Policy Changes. Your board or senior leadership teams have decided to address a social or health issue you haven’t focused on before. Or, you are focusing on a new target group, product or service. You need to know how these changes affect the overall mission and values of the organization and move carefully to implement them.

Whether you are setting up a new business or are already an entrepreneur, keeping up with the latest technology to suffice market demands is quite challenging. One thing that you should never overlook is your skill set which will definitely help you touch the goals that you have set f or your business.

An entrepreneur refers to someone who builds or operates their own business. By having an equity stake in the firm, the entrepreneur can enjoy a great deal of profit if things go well; but, they also take on a great deal of risk far more than a regular employee of the business. This entrepreneurial risk can take several forms, including financial risk, career risk, emotional risk, or overall business risk.

Since there is so much at stake when it comes to starting and growing a successful business, there are very specific skills that an entrepreneur usually needs to be successful. Below, we highlight five such attributes.

1. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Conversion rate optimization, or CRO, is the process of turning more website visitors into customers. The goal, basically, is more sales and revenue. The better your website can encourage users to take a specific action, the greater your business will grow.

Since the bulk of modern businesses do marketing online, this skill is one of the highest-ROI tactics in your marketing arsenal.

The full array of CRO tactics is complex, but the principles are easy to grasp. First, you must have a solid understanding of your customer. Second, you should be able to work with your existing data for some actionable tactics. Then, you run split tests to find out which variation converts more visitors.

From that point, you can interpret test results, make changes, and iterate even more tests.

2. Search engine optimization (SEO)

Far from being dead, SEO is alive and well and more important than ever.

It’s important because it’s easy to veer into one of two extremes. Extreme one is neglecting SEO. Some marketers think that ignoring SEO is the best approach because the algorithms are smart enough to figure out what your site is all about and how to get users to find it. This is incorrect, since targeting user intent and optimizing a site’s technical SEO are still crucial to online success.

The second extreme is doing SEO wrong. Old-school SEO tactics will put your website in the penalty box, preventing users from even being able to find your website.

Knowing the essentials of SEO and acting on them is integral to a modern business’s online success.

3. Content Marketing

Content marketing has been around for a long time, but it’s taken off in the last five years in ways that no one anticipated.

Content marketing is a $200+ billion dollar industry, and growing. There are no signs of decline. For modern entrepreneurs to succeed, they must learn to embrace and advance this marketing method.

4. User Experience

Also known as UX or UXD, user experience is “the process of enhancing user satisfaction by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in the interaction between the user and the product.”

User experience is at the heart of SEO, CRO, and content marketing. If you can learn the why and how of user experience, you can drive your business to new levels of success.

Facebook, Uber, Slack, and many of the other silicon valley unicorns have achieved their remarkable growth, in part, from a powerful UX strategy. UX is far too important to ignore.

5. Email Marketing

An emphasis on email marketing may sound like a blast from the 2005 past, but here’s the thing: Email marketing remains one of the most effective forms of marketing available.

One of the reasons email marketing is still massively successful is due to the rise of mobile. Take your own experience as an example. How do you interact with many of the messages you receive on a daily basis?

Successful businesses know how to combine content marketing methods with growing an email list, with split testing, and with user experience to engineer powerful marketing methods.

6. Social media

Hopefully, you’re familiar with the basics of Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Since most of us are already part of these social networks, we’ve shortened the learning curve. When it comes to monetizing these social networks, however, there’s still some ground to be gained.

Social media isn’t going away, even if its algorithms and methods change on a weekly basis. It behooves entrepreneurs to know its power and potential.

7. Writing

Some of the best entrepreneurs I know are also great writers.

Why do entrepreneurial success and great writing ability go hand in hand? Part of it is the sheer marketing power. Creating great content generates loyal customers. Another benefit of great writing is the ability to think analytically and creatively.

Entrepreneurs will always be writing business plans, emails, proposals, headlines, and guest articles. Improving this skill can benefit you in untold ways.

Not making one

As an entrepreneur, surely, you’re more excited about doing the thing you want to do that writing a plan about it. But recall the wisdom of Yogi Berra: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else.” Without a plan, you’re likely to spend valuable time and energy pursuing fruitless paths and spreading yourself thin. Make completing your plan a priority to focus your energy, stay on the right path, and improve your chances of landing a small business loan.

Unrealistic Financial Projections

Most Canadians are familiar with the businesses on CBC’s Dragons’ Den who grossly overestimate the value of their company and are chastised and shot down by the dragons. It’s one of the most common business plan mistakes. Lenders and investors expect to be shown a realistic picture of where your business is now and where it hopes to be, therefore if the plan is overly optimistic with no explanation of the projections, it will ring warning bells and cause the plan to be rejected.

Being unrealistic

This can happen on a number of fronts if you’re not willing to ask hard questions, do concrete research, and be honest with yourself. Your business plan can’t represent the best case scenario or the way you hope things go: it has to grapple with the reality of the marketplace, financial truths, and the entrepreneurial landscape. Focus on being realistic in a few key areas:

• Financial projections: Don’t pad or overinflate your future earnings projections. At best, you’ll look like you don’t know what you’re doing and a bank won’t trust you enough to lend you money. At worst, they’ll lend you the money and you’ll go into default or bankruptcy.
• Competition: A big red flag in many business plans is a belief that you have minimal competition or even none. “You’re always competing for dollars,” said RISBDC counselor Manuel Batlle. Even if your product is unique, your target customers still have choices about what to do with their money. You must address how you will persuade your target market to give their dollars to you.
• Market research: It doesn’t matter what you want to build or sell. Someone has to be willing to buy it for a price that makes it worth selling. No business plan is complete without investing time and energy in up-to-date market research to truly understand market trends, customer interest, competitor performance, and other aspects of product or service viability.
• Customer base for brick and mortar businesses: Your mother may be willing to drive across the state to buy a soda from you, but probably no one else will. For many products and services, your customers are going to be local. Particularly in Rhode Island, customers may be searching within walking distance, or a 5-10 minute drive. Dig deep into the census information on demographics in your area and be realistic about how many target customers are within buying distance.

Poor executive summary

A lender will read your business plan’s executive summary and “give it the sniff test, then the gut test,” said RISBDC business counselor Josh Daly. The lender may decide whether or not to continue reading based on what their intuition tells them. So the executive summary is worth focusing on. Someone without a deep business background should be able to understand it, and it should make the case that your business is viable in short, clear points. Daly recommends 1-3 sentences each on your business background, customer base, the market, the competition, your qualifications, and your team. A concise summary should fit into about two pages and convince your audience to keep reading. If your plan is focused on securing financing, prospective lenders should immediately know how much money you are looking to borrow and how the money will be used.

Bad Research

All research must be double checked and substantiated. By using incorrect or out of date information you will discredit your business idea and the remainder of the plan.

Too long

For a majority of small businesses, a succinct and well-organized business plan should be 5-10 pages long. An engaging business plan includes visuals, where appropriate, to avoid wordiness when a graph, chart, or map will tell the story more effectively. Additional supporting financial projections or research data can go in an appendix. Plans that are significantly longer don’t necessarily give more or better information, and they risk losing their audience before they’re actually read.

No Focus on your Competition

Even if you think you have a ‘unique’ business idea and are sure that no other business like yours exists, check and double check. There is no such thing as no competition. Even if your business is one of kind, it comes down to the dollar; if your business didn’t exist, but the customers’ need still existed, where would they spend their money?

Equally if you highlight your competition too much the investor will worry that the business will not survive. Focus on your niche, what differentiates you from the competition, how you plan to compete in the marketplace and paint accurate picture of what the industry is like now and where you see it going in the future.

Not backing up what you say

Along with being realistic in discussing your projections and your market research, you also need to make sure you’re using data and references not just anecdotes to support what you’re claiming.

Not focusing on the team, and your role as the head

No small business owner has every skill and personality trait needed to take a business all the way from the seed of an idea, to the world, all by him or herself. It’s appropriate and important to identify and address gaps in your experience and education, and explain how you’ll overcome them. It’s also crucial to briefly introduce your top team members, sell their contributions to your company, and portray how together, your team is well-rounded and ready to tackle the challenges ahead.

Sloppy mistakes

Typos, grammatical errors, and poor formatting are completely avoidable enemies, taking the shine off your first impression. Your business plan needs to look professional because it’s going to speak for you. Use spell-check. Re-read your plan. Get lots of sleep and re-read it again. Then, even if you’re a great writer and a stickler for detail, have someone else check it over for things you’ve missed. Never underestimate the value of a pair of fresh eyes.

DIC

The District Industry Center (DIC) under the Directorate of Industries and Commerce offers a subsidy loan scheme for young professionals under the guidance of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Established in 1978, District Industries Centers’ program was initiated by the Central Government to promote tiny, cottage, village, and Small Scale Industries (SSIs) in smaller towns and their particular areas to make them available with all the basic needs, services, and facilities.

DIC’s primary focus is to generate employment in rural regions of India. District Industries Centers are managed and operated at the district level to provide all the necessary support services to entrepreneurs or first-time business owners to start their own Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). DICs also promote the Registration and Development of Industrial Cooperatives.

Role of District Industries Centres (DICs)

The District Industries Centres (DICs) play a prominent role in developing and promoting industries in the respective states. They are established by the Department of Commerce & Industry of the respective state. In addition to DICs, Sub-District Industries Centres (SDICs) have also been created in various states such as Nagaland. This additional tier has helped industrial development to penetrate deeper into the rural areas of the country.

• Provide assistance for DIC programmes
• Single window clearance system
• Promote industries in rural areas
• Provide employment to people in both rural and urban areas

Schemes under the District Industries Centres (DICs)

A number of schemes have been launched which fall under the ambit of District Industries Centres (DICs). These schemes help in fulfilling the goals of establishing the District Industries Centres (DICs). These schemes are centrally sponsored schemes as well as central sector schemes. The following schemes fall under the DIC:

• Prime Minister’s Employment Guarantee Program (PMEGP): This centrally sponsored scheme under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) was launched in 2008. The PMEGP aims to generate employment opportunities for educated unemployed citizens in rural and urban areas. The nodal agency for the implementation of the scheme is Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC). Under this scheme, 90-95% of the amount will be given by banks as loans with 5-10% of the project cost in the industry, service or business sector being the applicant’s share.
• District Industries Centre (DIC) Loan Scheme: This scheme is for the self-employed as well as the small unit sector in towns and rural areas with population less than 1 lakh and with capital investment being less than Rs. 2 lakhs. These small units are identified by the Small Scale Industries Board and Village industries, handicrafts, handlooms, silk & coir industries.

For entrepreneurs in the general category, 20% of the total investment or Rs. 40,000 shall be the margin money (whichever is lesser). For entrepreneurs in the SC/ST category, 30% of the total investment or Rs. 60,000 shall be the margin money (whichever is lesser).

• Seed Money Scheme: This scheme is targeted towards the self-employed who engage in skilled wage employment or self-employment ventures. Institutional financial assistance in the form of soft loans. Project cost to avail loan facility under the seed money scheme has been increased to Rs. 25 lakhs. For projects up to Rs. 10 lakhs, seed money assistance of up to 15% of the project cost is offered. For SC/ST/OBC, the assistance provided will be 20% of the project cost; the limit of assistance provided is Rs. 3.75 lakhs with 75% of the project cost being in the form of a bank loan.
• District Awards Scheme: To boost entrepreneurs’ spirits and celebrate their achievements and successes, the state governments have started honoring such entrepreneurs with awards at the district level. The District Advisory Committee formed at the district level shall select the entrepreneurs to be awarded. The District Awards Function is held on Vishwakarma Jayanti Day which falls on varying dates every year. The award function includes the display of the products by the entrepreneur for sale and exhibition along with workshops and discussion about the same.
• Entrepreneurship Development Training Programme: This scheme was launched to impart training to the educated unemployed people and encourage them to encourage self-employment ventures or engage in skilled wage employment. Training programmes under the Entrepreneurship Development Training Programme are:

• Entrepreneurship Introductory Programme (Udyojakata Parichay Karyakram)
• Entrepreneurship Development Training Programme (12 Day residential)
• Technical Training Programme (12 Days to 2 Months non-residential)

SIDA

Sida uses Challenge Funds to finance entrepreneurs and innovators that want to contribute to economic, environmental and social sustainability in the developing world.

Sida finances various Challenge Funds with different regional and thematic priorities so that development can reach as many people as possible. The funds should always address a key development issue which otherwise is not addressed by market forces. Challenge Funds can also be used to stimulate and support innovations in research and the civil society, for example by investing in local knowledge to improve governance, transparency, rights and access to services or to strengthen peoples’ voice and influence.

Because of low investment, many people living in poverty suffer a lack of productive work and goods that would help them improve their livelihoods. The private sector is a large source of innovation, employment and growth that has the potential to positively affect the situation for people in low- and middle-income countries. Due to the high level of uncertainty and risk associated with developing markets it is often hard for entrepreneurs to access credit or investments.

Challenge Funds are mostly aimed at entrepreneurs that lack the capital to start up their business or to scale a small project or business venture into a larger one. Sida wants to give social/sustainable businesses a chance to try their ideas and innovations. By taking some of the initial risk via investments through a Challenge Fund, Sida can enable social/sustainable businesses to become self-sustaining.

SISI

The small industries service institutes (SISI’s) are set-up one in each state to provide consultancy and training to small and prospective entrepreneurs. The activities of SISs are co-ordinate by the industrial management training division of the DC, SSI office (New Delhi). In all there are 28 SISI’s and 30 Branch SISI’s set up in state capitals and other places all over the country.

Functions of SISI

1. To assist existing and prospective entrepreneurs through technical and managerial counseling such as help in selecting the appropriate machinery and equipment, adoption of recognized standards of testing, quality performance etc;
2. Conducting EDPs all over the country;
3. To advise the Central and State governments on policy matters relating to small industry development;
4. To assist in testing of raw materials and products of SSIs, their inspection and quality control;
5. To provide market information to the SISI’s;
6. To recommend SSI’s for financial assistance from financial institutions;
7. To enlist entrepreneurs for partition in Government stores purchase programme;
8. Conduct economic and technical surveys and prepare techno-economic feasible reports for selected areas and industries.

NSIC

The National Small Industries Corporation Ltd. (NSIC), an ISO 9000 certified company, since its establishment in 1955, has been working to fulfill its mission of promoting, aiding and fostering the growth of small-scale industries and industry related small-scale services/businesses in the country.

At present, the NSIC operates through 6 Zonal Offices, 26 Branch Offices, 15 Sub-offices, 5 Technical Services Centres, 3 Extension Centres and 2 Software Technology Parks supported by a team of over 5000 professionals spread across the country. To mange operations in Gulf and African countries, the NSIC operates from its offices in Dubai and Johannesburg.

Functions of NSIC:

NSIC provides a wide range of services, predominantly promotional in character, to small-scale industries.

1. Provide machinery on hire-purchase scheme to small-scale industries.
2. Provide equipment leasing facility.
3. Help in export marketing of the products of small-scale industries.
4. Participate in bulk purchase programme of the Government.
5. Develop prototype of machines and equipments to pass on to small-scale industries for commercial production.
6. Distribute basic raw material among small-scale industries through raw material depots.
7. Help in development and up-gradation of technology and implementation of modernization programmes of small-scale industries.
8. Impart training in various industrial trades.
9. Set up small-scale industries in other developing countries on turn-key basis.
10. Undertake the construction of industrial estates.

SIDO

Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO) is a subordinate office of the Department of SSI & Auxiliary and Rural Industry (ARI). It is an apex body and nodal agency for formulating, coordinating and monitoring the policies and programmes for promotion and development of small-scale industries.

Development Commissioner is the head of the SIDO. He is assisted by various directors and advisers in evolving and implementing various programmes of training and management, consultancy, industrial investigation, possibilities for development of different types of small-scale industries, industrial estates, etc.

The main functions of the SIDO are classified into:

(i) Co-ordination,

(ii) Industrial development, and

(iii) Extension.

These functions are performed through a national network of institutions and associated agencies created for specific functions. At present, the SIDO functions through 27 offices, 31 Small Industries Service Institutes (SISI), 37 Extension Centres, 3 Product-cum -Process Development Centres, and 4 Production Centres.

All small-scale industries except those falling within the specialized boards and agencies like Khadi and Village Industries (KVI), Coir Boards, Central Silk Board, etc., fall under the purview of the SIDO.

The main functions performed by the SIDO in each of its three categories of functions are:

Functions Relating to Co-ordination:

1. To evolve a national policy for the development of small-scale industries,
2. To co-ordinate the policies and programmes of various State Governments,
3. To maintain a proper liaison with the related Central Ministries, Planning Commission, State Governments, Financial Institutions etc., and
4. To co-ordinate the programmes for the development of industrial estates.

Functions Relating to Industrial Development:

1. To reserve items for production by small-scale industries,
2. To collect data on consumer items imported and then, encourage the setting of industrial units to produce these items by giving coordinated assistance,
3. To render required support for the development of ancillary units, and
4. To encourage small-scale industries to actively participate in Government Stores Purchase Program by giving them necessary guidance, market advice, and assistance.

Function Relating to Extension:

1. To make provision to technical services for improving technical process, production planning, selecting appropriate machinery, and preparing factory lay-out and design,
2. To provide consultancy and training services to strengthen the competitive ability of small-scale industries.
3. To render marketing assistance to small-scale industries to effectively sell their products, and
4. To provide assistance in economic investigation and information to small- scale industries.