Trade Map.org – For Importers, Exporters and Market Researchers

Trade Map was developed in 2001 by the International Trade Centre (ITC) to help both Trade Support Institutions (TSIs) and enterprises answer questions about international trade and thereby facilitate strategic market research.

Consumer Behavior - Part 1

The study of consumer behavior helps companies to improve their marketing strategies by understanding how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different brands, products, and retailers….etc.

Consumer behavior is "The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society.

Learn How to make your resume Seen by Employers

There are many people who fail to have the satisfaction of a good work just because they do not get the job they want to do. If you do not want this to repeat to you, then you must be very careful when looking for a job.

First, you should make a list of criteria for the work required. After that, you must prepare your resume according to the job. Uses of different applications have generally different types of criteria.

Build Your Online Store Easily

For those who are interested in having an online business, there are a different methods to go about creating an e-commerce store. Some people choose to take the path of self-hosting, although this can be difficult if they have no experience in web design and site optimization. Others prefer to use a platform e-commerce, but with the variety of options it important to narrow down what you want in a program before you sign up.

Why Cash Flow Management is essential for Your Business Survival?

Profitability is important in the long term; but in the short term, the cash flows must be managed carefully to avoid running out of cash and potentially being forced into liquidation.

Inability to stay on top of cash flow is a common drop of enterprises which can then no longer cover their necessary expenses such as salaries, rent, or supply of raw materials.

The Incoterms Rules - Part 2

The Incoterms rules are an internationally recognized standard and are used worldwide in international and domestic contracts for the sale of goods. First published in 1936, Incoterms® rules provide internationally accepted definitions and rules of interpretation for most common commercial terms.

 

The rules have been developed and maintained by experts and practitioners brought together by ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) and have become the standard in international business rules setting.

 

The Incoterms Rules - Part 1

The Incoterms rules are an internationally recognized standard and are used worldwide in international and domestic contracts for the sale of goods. First published in 1936, Incoterms® rules provide internationally accepted definitions and rules of interpretation for most common commercial terms.

 

The rules have been developed and maintained by experts and practitioners brought together by ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) and have become the standard in international business rules setting.

Why Trade for Developing Countries? – Part 2

            6.Trade increases choice and lowers prices for consumers by widening the sources of supply of products and services and strengthening competition.

            7.Trade plays a role in quality improvement, labor and the environment standards  through increased competition and the exchange of best practices between  business partners, building capacity in industry and product standards.

            8.Trade contributes to cutting government spending by expanding supply source of products and services and strengthening competition for government procurement.

            9.Trade strengthens relationships between nations by bringing people together in   peaceful and mutually beneficial exchanges and contributes to peace and stability.

            10.Trade creates employment opportunities by strengthening the economic sectors that create stable jobs and generally higher revenue, thus improving livelihoods.

GOOD LUCK

Why Trade for Developing Countries? – Part 1

            1. Trade can contribute to boost development and reduce poverty by generating growth through increased trade and investment opportunities, as well as the expansion of the productive base through the development of the private sector.

             2. Trade strengthens competitiveness by helping developing countries reduce   input costs, acquire finance through investment, increase the added value of their  products and move up the global value chain.

             3. Trade facilitates export diversification allowing developing countries access to  new markets and new materials which open a new production possibility.

             4. Trade encourages innovation by facilitating the exchange of know-how, technology and investment in research and development, including foreign direct investment (FDI).

             5. Trade openness expands business opportunities for local companies by  opening up new markets, removing unnecessary barriers and making it easier for  them to export.

How to brand your business? Part-2

A perfect branding takes time to develop. You cannot achieve overnight. He needs proper guidance, nurturing, and strategic expertise. So, here's a list of some don'ts that you may need to consider:

1. Do not make your business services or real company brand products. Your corporate brand should be the spokesperson for your products or services. It should lead your business to its highest peaks.

2. Do not make your company logo of your company's brand. Your logo should describe what your corporate brand stands for.

3. Do not create a logo that is apparently in line with newer models. It might not look appealing after 10 years and will just give an outdated impression on your corporate identity.

Therefore, keep in mind that the company logo is an information element that serves as a reminder of a particular brand. For example, the logos for Apple, Google, Nike and Puma, they transmit all dimensions of their marks in a single glance and components are clean, simple, catchy, effective and memorable. These are the types of company brand you want; something that creates basic introductions and bears the name of your business wherever it goes.

GOOD LUCK

SCOPE OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING - Part 3

International Marketing constitutes a large areas of businesses, first of them are Exports and Imports (International Trade), Contractual Agreements and Joint Ventures as discussed in Part 1& Part 2 SCOPE OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING-  so hereunder in part 3, we will identify another five items of international marketing.

Manufacturing-owned: A company with long-term interest in a foreign market can establish manufacturing facilities outright. Factors such as trade barriers, differences in costs, government policies, etc. encourage the establishment of production facilities in foreign markets. Foreign manufacturing provides the company with a total control over quality and production.

Contract manufacturing: When a company enters into a contract with another company in a foreign country for the production assembles the products and canned product marketing with itself, it is known as contract manufacturing. Contract manufacturing has important advantages such as low risk, low cost and output.

Management contracting: Under a management contract supplier brings a skill set that will offer integrated service to customer without the risk and benefits of ownership.

Third country location: When there is no commercial transaction between two countries for various reasons, a company that wants to enter the market of another country, will operate from a third base country. For example,Taiwan’s entry into china through bases in Hong Kong.

Mergers and acquisitions (M & A): provide access to markets, distribution network, new technologies and patent rights. It also reduces the level of competition for companies that merge or be acquired.

GOOD LUCK

How to brand your business? Part-1

The most important step in effectively to the development of the brand is to create a logo that conveys a message behind the business to everyone around the world. Its essence is to make corporate branding for your business. It is a way to design a functional representation for a company and the company name.

Probably, you already have a design in mind about how you want your logo to look better when displayed for your brand. However, you may need to consider a guide for your overall brand development into a reality as stated in the below guidelines.

1. Find an experienced and trusted team that offers branding services.

2. Present the entire design, color and the specific fonts you might want to incorporate into your logo design to your brand strategist.

3. Make reasonable use of bright colors! It may attract more attention.

4. Make your logo simple and uncomplicated, without ignoring creativity. 

5. Your logo design for the company's brand should be created in a way that it can be used on different platforms without affecting its vividness in terms of appearance. It must always deliver the same message for your business.

Advantages of Online Home Business

Running a home business online has many advantages. If you are considering looking for home business ideas, here are some of the positive things about starting a home business online.

A home business online is very easy to start. Previously, if you were to start a home business that would involve a lot of planning and work to get your business successfully on the ground but today, with the Internet that is the case, as anyone with an Internet connection can start a home business online.

Affiliate programs are free to join and many residual income opportunities will cost you less than $100 to get started. If you choose to do other things like article writing or blog posting these will not cost you any money at all.

Affiliate marketing is a good example of how easy it is to start a business online. You can join an affiliate program and be promoting your product online in minutes.

Start-up costs are very low. It will not cost you much money at all, although the cost varies depending on the type of home business you start.Affiliate programs are free to join and many opportunities for residual income will cost less than $ 100 to start.

You can outsource what you can not do it yourself. If you are new to working online, you have not yet mastered the Internet marketing skills is needed to promote a business. But you do not have to worry about it because it's easy to find people to do things for you at a reasonable price.

Fiverr is a great site where you can hire people to five dollars per project and easy Outsource and oDesk are other sites where you can hire employees. You can earn unlimited income. Your goal is definitely to make as much money as you can.

You know exactly what your monthly salary is when you have a job, making it easier to budget and plan for your life, however, it is not easy to achieve your dreams.

With an online home business you can make as much money as you want. Once you are making money with your first website you can then increase your income by starting another one and so on. There is no limit to what you can do online.

With a home business online, you can make as much money as you want. Once you make money with your first website, you can increase your revenues start another one and so on. There is no limit to what you can do online.

You do not have high skill levels. To start and run a successful home business online does not mean you have to have a college education but you will need to learn some internet marketing skills to drive traffic to your site, anyone can learn these if they are willing to spend time working at it. It is very easy and cheap to start an online business from home and at work can be very profitable.

Online Banks vs Traditional Banks

The concept of traditional banks is very simple; you take your money in the bank and they will keep it safe for you and you can win later. There are other uses of a bank, such as loans and interest. But with most of the digital transition, including money transfers, payroll checks, bill payments and debit cards, the money is practically becomes obsolete

You probably are very comfortable to walk into your local bank and deposit a check or make a withdrawal. However, you are probably very familiar with the associated lines to do even the most basic tasks. And to enter the building, you should keep in mind all federal holidays and other days of the bank when the bank will not open. And if you need to visit the bank past normal business hours, forget it, it'll just wait until the next day.

With online banking, you will never have to worry about full access to your account. You will have a quick and easy 24-hour access from anywhere in the world. Online banking will never be closed for holidays or for maintenance. You never have to rush to the bank after work and fight against the lines, because with online banking, you can access your account from any computer with an Internet connection. Also, because the online banking should not rent a building, they often offer higher interest rates to their savings accounts.

Trust funds and using the online banking is simple and fast. The most common and easiest to use online banking is having a direct deposit made with an employer. Most employers prefer direct deposit and creating an account is free and simple. You can also move funds in an online bank via an online transfer or money transfer. Most online banks have scanning checks and check the entry money and deposit options.

When you need to withdraw funds from your online banking service, you can use a debit card or ATM card standard. Many cards have very similar configurations as standard and more traditional banks. You can use the debit card for purchases online or at retail and ATM cards work in any ATM. There is almost no difference between the ways you want to use an online bank service card and a card from a traditional bank.

Online banking can be intimidating if you’re new to the idea. But with the added convenience, higher interest rates and overall better quality service, it is an appealing option for many.

Online banking can be threatening if you are new to the idea. But with the convenience, higher interest rates and overall better quality of service, it is an attractive option for many.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is using techniques which allow a marketer to make the best of both worlds – digital and marketing. 

One of the most important aspects of digital marketing is effective use of social media.

Active and smart use of social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ is a great way to build up your consumer base and interact with them on a daily basis.  Then there's email marketing which is more powerful if you have a database of consumers you wish to directly target.

Another important aspect of digital marketing is web design. However, most companies do not give it the importance it deserves.

Your website design is what usually decides whether the customers will make the purchase or not. Many studies have concluded that around 70% people decide the credibility of a business based the design of its website. So web design services and web developing services should figure high on your priority list while planning a campaign or for increasing the value of your brand.

More advanced services comprise SEO and SEM.

SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization is an extremely important component of digital marketing. SEO is the process of improving the visibility of a website (and thus, a brand) on the search engine result pages such as Google, Yahoo and Bing among others.  A smart SEO strategy will ensure that your brand ranks consistently high in search results.

SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing and it is a form of Internet marketing which involves promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results page primarily by purchasing ads.  Now, SEO and SEM might sound like they have the same function but that is not true. While the purpose of SEO is to get better organic search results , SEM helps you search engine users via paid links in addition to organic search in order to send them to your website.

Tip: Make sure the digital marketing agency you engage provides the full spectrum of digital services.

How to Make Money on eBay?

It is much harder for the individual to make money on eBay today than it was before.

There is much more competition on eBay today than in past years.

Today there are over 1000 large companies with employees, stores and sophisticated distribution systems competing for the eBay.In addition to the independent large power sellers and many others who either list directly on eBay or have hired companies to sell their merchandise for them under another name. so if you want to make money on eBay, you need to use some different strategies:

There are some basic strategies for making money on eBay. First of them is selling of used goods, let's know about it :

1-     Sell used goods to make money on eBay

The first strategy to make money on eBay is to sell used goods including vintage products, antiques and collectibles. 

The market for any type of used goods on eBay will always be the scope of the smaller seller. The difficulty of sourcing merchandise makes this a difficult area for large companies. At the higher end of the used market are art, antiques, collectibles and rare books. If you have some knowledge and experience in this field, it is very easy to enter.

2-     Make Money with a Niche Market

The second strategy to make money on eBay is to develop a small specialized niche market. 

This what most of the successful eBay sellers do. you may get emails from eBay newbies asking you where they can buy DVDs, plasma TVs, Digital Cameras, iPods and other popular consumer electronic products.

A niche is a small specialized product category that a small seller can play in

3-     Make Money with Consignment Selling

The third strategy is consignment selling (Drop-Shipping). 

No upfront investment in products, no inventory, high profits and minimal expenses. Once you qualify, you can register as an eBay Trading Assistant and eBay will help you promote your business for free.

Once you know how to sell on eBay, it is pretty easy to find people who have goods to sell.

The trick to being successful in the eBay consignment business is in learning how to market your services, learning what type of merchandise to sell and which to reject and how to control your fees.

Finally, small individuals can make money from eBay, if they can follow one or more of the above strategies.

SCOPE OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING - Part 2

International Marketing constitutes a large areas of businesses, first of them are Exports and Imports (International Trade) as discussed in part 1 SCOPE OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING- Part 1, here we will identify another two items of international marketing.

Contractual Agreements: Patent licensing, turn key operations, co – production, technical and managerial know – how and licensing agreements are all a part of international marketing. Licensing includes a number of contractual agreements whereby intangible assets such as patents, trade secrets, know – how, trade marks and brand names are made available to foreign firms in return for a fee.

Joint Ventures: A form of collaborative association for a considerable period is known as joint venture. A joint venture comes into existence when a foreign investor acquires interest in a local company and vice versa or when overseas and local firms jointly form a new firm. In countries where fully owned firms are not allowed to operate, joint venture is the alternative.

Online Marketing Strategy- Part 2

The objective of your online marketing strategy is to use your web site to attract visitors and convert them to customers.

To know characteristics of a successful website that maximizes your Online Marketing, you should  learn about Conversion Rate Optimization, E-marketing strategy and Email Newsletters.

Conversion Rate Optimization was discussed in the part 1 Online Marketing Strategy- Part 1  , now let's go to know the other two strategies:

E-marketing strategy

Grow your business significantly by adopting an effective e-marketing strategy; Collect your Customers and Prospects’ Email addresses – and then make sure you use them to follow up, by communicating regularly and effectively with their customers and clients. Note- Communicating, not just selling! For instance:

·         To thank people for their business,

·         A special offer,

·         Give them a free article or report,

·         Give a discount

·         Send a newsletter,

·         Recommend a product or service,

·         Ask for referrals,

·         Share some news,

·         Ask why they’ve not done business with you

·         Anything you want to communicate with them.

Email Newsletter 

An email newsletter must have useful content and information appreciated by your database of readers, otherwise people will perceive it as spam and unsubscribe.

Sending an email newsletter is a powerful way to stay in touch with your customers.

Actually a quality Email newsletter is probably the best Customer Acquisition and retention tool, and is cost effective.

So, every few weeks send out an “informative letter” covering areas of interest to your subscribers including helpful articles and tips, news, free stuff and special offers.

Automate your Emails with Auto responders. One of the reasons that Email Marketing is so powerful is because if you set it up properly, your entire email operation can be automated.

Using auto responders means that you can decide at the start of the campaign who gets which emails and when they get them.

You can create a system where people who purchase a particular product or service receive a series of emails leading them to further purchases. And the entire process is automated – which means that you can make money while you sleep!

Test Pay per Click Advertising, that may get you to the top of the search engines without spending months on search engine optimization.

You only pay when someone visits your site, unlike most internet advertising. How much you pay will depend on the competition there is in your category. Remember, as with all marketing, TEST and MEASURE the results.

Use Video on your website Video is revolutionizing the internet and is very successful and effective. For a small investment of time and money you can turn your website into a multimedia vehicle, giving your customers the most effective direct experience of your products and services possible.

If you combine video with email marketing, pay per click and advanced internet marketing, the results can be tremendous.

Use split-testing. All highly successful online Entrepreneurs use testing. This means that you continually test alternative versions of your web pages, to see which attract the most customers and sales.

Tools such as Google’s Website Optimizer and Hyper tracker enable you to do this at little or no cost.