Launching a new business requires much skill and preparation. Entrepreneurs may not have the resources to raise capital in order to market their new business ideas; therefore, some great business ideas never become commercialized. This is a common dilemma that many entrepreneurs face. They often speculate about how to raise capital and same time, are unsure about how their startup will have the needed financial security to properly stay on track. Before a new business owner can raise capital for their startup, they must first identify the different sources of funding, find one that is most compatible with their needs, and then meet the given criteria of the investor or bank. These crucial steps can mean the difference between having the opportunity to successfully raise capital and leaving their new business ideas behind.

Research

Entrepreneurs are encouraged to first investigate their funding options and conduct comprehensive market research to fully understand their potential targeted consumer base and any major competitors. Such information can be readily available both online and offline.

The internet has become the fastest and most efficient means by which a new business owner can perform market research and find out ways to raise capital. One important website to visit is the Small Business Administration (SBA) (www.SBA.gov), which can provide the necessary facts and resources needed for starting their new business. Every entrepreneur should take advantage of this valuable online resource so that they can become aware of all the different types of funding available. They will also be able to learn about how to meet the desired criteria in order to effectively raise capital for their new business.

Offline resources

In addition to online resources, new business owners can also visit the public library or read through the local newspaper to find out more information on how to raise capital. The prospective business owner can also speak to successful entrepreneurs who have experience in the field. Since experienced entrepreneurs have been through this process already, they can provide a wealth of information to the new business owner. The entrepreneur can also build a network of contacts through them, receive constructive advice, and find out how they can raise capital for their new business. Every entrepreneur can greatly benefit from an experienced business owner’s wisdom, further giving them a leading advantage to raise capital.

Part 1: Cloud Computing

Over the last decade, technology has transformed the world of business in profound ways and 2010 has been no different.  From the advent of cloud computing for businesses to the continued proliferation of mobile commerce to the maturation of social networks, 2010 is providing increased opportunities for businesses to create efficiencies through technology.

As technology continues to dominate our personal lives, integrating innovative technologies into traditional business models has become more difficult. Effectively leveraging these technologies requires a unified strategy and implementation process, but if done correctly, can lead to a significantly enhanced customer experience, increased sales and a more targeted sales & marketing effort.

The question is – How?

1. Cloud Computing

The adoption of cloud services and cloud infrastructure will allow businesses to increase productivity faster.  Cloud services provide open capabilities available through open API’s or direct access. Everything from Salesforce.com to Twitter’s open APIs to Google maps fall in the realm of cloud services.

With the exciting competition going on in mobile brought about from the success of the iPhone and the introduction of Android, we are going to see mobile be a standard part of your Web application development. The days of it being nice to have budget for such efforts are gone. Not only will a cool iPhone application bring marketing value, it’ll bring power users—just the zeitgeist you want to tap.

We know for a fact that the most successful brands in 2010 will be the social brands with social voices operating in real-time. The notion of social voices implies real people participating, talking and guiding consumers on behalf of their companies in an engaging and conversational manner across every consumer touchpoint, digital or traditional. But a social voice alone is not going to be enough. A key ingredient will be working in real-time across the spectrum. That means real-time in terms of the campaigns that are launched and executed, the miniapplications that are developed and pushed out, the products launched in response to changing needs, the targeted consumers and the customer services offered.

Cloud services are a necessity to deliver on the promise of social brands. You simply cannot launch a digital product, run an online marketing campaign cost effectively or reach new users quickly unless you are using cloud services. Nor can you integrate your own marketing efforts into the broader social Web without leveraging cloud services in the same way as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Why? Because once integrated, these social applications can drive immense traffic to your digital product, Website or microsite when you least expect it, resulting in you needing to scale your infrastructure up quickly and roll out new features to capitalize on the increased attention.

Social brands will know how to leverage technologies like Facebook Connect to drive traffic and eyeballs to the brands. Open APIs will help brands get their word out on platforms like Twitter. Building small distributed applications will make sure people interact with your brand anywhere they are, whether it’s on an iPhone, Android or HP Printer. While these social cloud services are broad and far reaching, you do need to proceed with caution.

Over the past few months, the debate over privacy and its role in the continued evolution of information technology has been reinvigorated. To some extent, the controversy isn’t new, nor is it surprising. Whenever there’s disruption in the market and the boundary conditions are tested, there’s going to be consternation.

It’s also clear that if the mobile industry isn’t proactive in addressing consumer privacy head-on from a technical, business, education and compliance perspective, there will be a strong push to pressure the government to regulate an opportunity that hasn’t fully blossomed yet — and in the process, hamper its evolution.

In the digital economy, trust is the bedrock of the relationship between consumers and brands. Privacy is about the perception of control and transparency. While we expect corporations to roll out terrific products, any direct interaction with them should assume that our private information is not up for sale (at least not without explicit authorization). Any damage to that trust can not only destroy a brand’s reputation but open it up to lawsuits, government oversight and legislation.

Yet the mobile ecosystem, like that of online, has failed to take the issue of privacy as seriously as it should. The best way to address the issue of privacy is by ceding “control.” Only by giving customers the ability to determine when, how and who can access their data can the various facets of consumer privacy be adequately addressed. The more control customers have over managing their privacy, the more willing they’ll be to share their tastes, intent and desires — both explicitly and implicitly.

Mobile provides unprecedented capability and opportunity to personalize and target, to make every message and impression count. What it doesn’t provide is a way for customers to control what comes to them via tools they can access with the touch of a button or a finger. After all, one might be only interested in food- and beverage-related promotions and advertisements during the lunch hour or on vacation and will consider them an intrusion and/or ignore them in out-of-context situations.

Companies should work diligently to design their mobile campaigns around the following basic rules:

• Be transparent
• Listen to your customers
• Give them control and access
• Put strong policies, procedures and technology in place
• Be aware of local laws/customs and cooperate/educate regulators
• Provide value — in the form of savings, convenience, efficiency, timeliness or social currency
• Ensure your partners adhere by the same principles (for example if users expunge personal data from your site, the relevant data should get deleted from your partners’ databases, too)

Another thing to keep in mind is that privacy requirements are going to be as diverse as the consumers using mobile services. Some will demand absolutely no leakage of information while others will care less. Some will like a simple on/off switch that controls privacy across applications and services with a touch of a button. Others will prefer 1,000 granular options to manage how their lives are shared and will get upset if their experience isn’t personalized to the nth degree. Solutions should address this wide array of requirements and not segment all users into one.

The mobile industry also needs to educate its consumers about sharing, privacy and advertising. Its various members need to work much closely together — warring factions only impedes progress. Finally, it needs to put forth effective enforcement strategies to weed out bad actors (and make sure its industry stalwarts aren’t the ones violating its guiding principles).

The mobile medium provides context, immediacy and personalization and a way to blur the line between ads and relevant, useful information that users can embrace. The winning solutions will be the ones that empower user privacy, not abuse it. Our focus should be to turn privacy into a competitive advantage, not a barrier.

As the prolific growth in social media has brought our world together in ways never thought possible, medical practitioners have not yet fully embraced social media to drive sales, referrals and to establish a local or national expertise.

Below you will find an overview of strategies that can be implemented cost-effectively to drive patient acquisitions, while increasing your practices exposure online.

Medical Professionals are Slow Adopters to Social Media

Social media is made up of many websites, strategies, processes and more, but at its core is the ability to directly connect with your target audience in a compelling way each day. Social media is word of mouth at its finest, but without a well thought out strategy, success rates will suffer. An action plan helps you organize your campaign more effectively. You need to address certain topics, such as how long do I want to spend each day on social media and what role do I want to take? What strategies do I feel will add the most value to our target audience? How can I give back to the community? An action plan should have clearly defined goals that enable you to run a highly effective and efficient campaign. (more…)