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Bridging the East and West Divides
East-West cleantech divides Asia Cleantech Gateway (ACG) is positioned at the East-West crossroads of the global clean energy technology industry, helping companies in the West achieve their business goals in the Asia Pacific region. The various energy challenges that the world faces do not recognize national boundaries, and we believe that neither should the businesses that are working to provide energy solutions. In recent years Asia has emerged as a bright new frontier for cleantech markets. To help both East and West work more effectively together, we are a sector-specialized, multilingual, APAC-located but Western-oriented company providing networking, market intelligence and business development services.
Continuous Insurance Enforcement
C.I.E. – as a Motor Trade business owner, those three letters should be very important, and rather scary. With recent regulations in Britain changing to mean that a vehicle must be insured as long as it is on the road, it is harder for people to get away with driving without insurance. However it means that as soon as your insurance runs out, and you don’t plan on renewing, said vehicle must be declared as S.O.R.N. (Statutory Off Road Notice).
When a vehicle is spotted by an ANPR Camera, data is pulled from the MID (Motor Insurance Database) to see whether the vehicle is insured or not. If it isn’t, the owner will received an Advisory Letter, which notifies them that it’s uninsured. There will be a warning that action will be taken unless they either declare it as SORN, or insure it. However, the system can be wrong sometimes. Maybe it’s a case of information not updating, or a miscalculation by the ANPR, but as with most technology and online systems, they run into problems now and again.
If you are found to be using the vehicle without insurance after the Advisory Letter, then there will be a fixed penalty of £100, clamping and seizing of the vehicle, and a court prosecution with maximum fines of around £1,000, but if there is a mistake, all you can do is get in touch with your insurer, make sure all is okay, and get them to pass your details on to the Motor Insurance Database. They will update their list to include your vehicle as insured. You can also check for free on their website, yourself. However, you can’t appeal against any fines or court prosecutions involved – the best time to check is as soon as you receive the Advisory Letter – that way you can kill the problem before it develops.
Just be careful as a motor trader with multiple vehicles – each one could have the insurance run out at any time, or even be mistakenly clocked as not being insured at all. An interesting tactic found online was to spread your vehicles purchases out over the year, then also spreading out the insurance to reduce lump costs, while maintaining a list of what was insured when, almost like a stock list, to keep everything organised and correct. Ensure that you have your car insured, or if you drive a van, you have a comprehensive van insurance policy in force.
For the sake of your business, employees and income, just make sure that everything is up to date and legitimately insured, and nothing can go wrong.
Marketing for real estate agents – the traditional and modern methods
Marketing strategies are what which causes the difference in success among companies and businessmen. Marketing for real estate agents is also quite essential since when there are properties that are sitting without being sold for many months the correct form of marketing should be utilized to bring them in the limelight. An unsold property prevents a real estate agency and agent from making any money.
Marketing strategies are old and new. When it comes to the real estate investment then the old methods of marketing for real estate agents fails the alternate methods are to be used. Let us go through a list of marketing methods old and new.
List of traditional and new marketing strategies for real estate
The traditional real estate marketing strategies mostly consist of:
- Newspaper ads.
- Bulk direct mails to potential buyers.
- Yard signs of property on sale.
When these methods fail the real estate agents have developed many newer methods. For topping the list of which is internet marketing. On the internet the scope of property listing and the number of buyers reached increases many fold. The key to get your property sold is to think out of the box. The properties should be presented to the potential buyers as if those are the best buys he can come across. Careful to which one works, or else you might as well read some Daniel Wellington watch review.
Tips for getting a real estate property sold in modern day
- The property should be included in as many listings as possible both in town and out of town of its location. This increases the scope of it being sold.
- The internet should be effectively utilized to sell a property so that the online lists display your listed property with priority.
- The offers and discounts that your agency is ready to make for a property should be clearly stated in the description of the property.
Advantages of online listing of real estate properties
- The property is exposed to a huge number of buyers. The purchaser pool grows wide and the benefit of a lot of buyer aiming for the same property is that the worth of the property goes up.
- The online listings are at hand for anyone who has access to the internet and a computer or a laptop and these days even on smart phones. Thus reaching the buyers through these online portals is easy and effective.
Marketing for real estate agents has become easy over the years because of the society becoming more and more digitalized and connected by the internet.
5 Ways Bluetooth Beacons Can Assist Your Marketing Business
Sales and marketing is a complex industry and needs you to have full understanding of the behavior and activities of customers. This is a customer-oriented sector and pivots around knowledge of the choices, preferences, spending power, culture and demographic of customers apart from other factors. With digitization, the sector has been experiencing newer challenges and marketers are increasingly looking for ways to incorporate technology for ensuring profitability. Bluetooth beacons are a newer medium for promotions, and can be used in at least 3 ways for marketing purposes.
Tracking customer behavior
Beacons can offer amazing insights into the habits and behaviors of customers. How long they spend time in a store, the kind of products they are most interested in, the price range of the items that they generally buy, the buyer segment and demographic interested in those items are some of the essential details which can provide a great deal of information about customer preferences and spending power. These details can be essential for devising suitable marketing campaigns.
Finding product clusters
You can also use these devices to understand the cluster of products liked by consumers, and their shopping pattern and frequency. These details can be useful in devising strategies and adding them to your business planning. You can keep them updated about your offers and latest products and services to be rolled out soon.
Sending marketing messages
Beacons have Bluetooth chips integrated in them and draw power from a lithium battery. The range of support is wide. The device can be used for sending marketing messages and using it as a signal for customers. These days, beacon advertising is a powerful and unique way of promotion. Beacons are low powered but cost effective instruments which act both as a receiver and as a transmitter.
Creating mobile interactions
Bluetooth beacons also help in creating new mobile interactions, ranging from on the spot analytics to digitized payments to proximity marketing. Naturally, these are being used in diverse sectors such as retail, hospitality, transportation, healthcare and education and even apps are being created with beacons.
Displaying set number of promotional offers
Promotional offers valid for a certain amount of period can easily be displayed with the help of BT beacons. Simply attaching the transceivers to a dry and hard surface and configuring them can be enough to display information. There is no expense related to hardware maintenance, which is a win-win situation for marketers.
Investing In Real Estate Is Not Always Simple
Most real estate investors feel that the only things to keep in mind during making a deal is the property that you are buying and the timing of buying and selling it. This is not enough to know if you are looking for real success in the west vancouver real estate business.
Keeping what to buy and when to buy factors in mind are just half of the list of elements you should consider while making an investment. There are several other points that can make or break your deal.
Factors Beyond Your Control
There are so many things that you cannot predict or control for that matter. You may buy the best priced property in a locality that is considered the best in the region. You only know the present value of this property and can hope based on previous records that it will grow in years. There is no sure way of telling, however, how the value of the property is going to appreciate in coming years.
There could be several policies relating to real estate that could change. There could be a development in another region that could attract more buyers. There is no way one can predict how the property will evaluate few years down the line.
Your Personal Capacity
The points mentioned above are mostly the extrinsic factors but those are not the only matters that cannot be predicted. Your personal capacity and how well you will be able to handle all aspects of a deal are also not predictable.
A lot will be decided depending on how big a risk taker are you? How you manage your finances. How disciplined are you in terms of making goals and then meeting them. Real estate investments require you to take tough calls under pressure. Everyone cannot handle it well. So at some point it boils down to how you are going to fare at in a situation. A fine example would be how two different sellers sold two similar homes, in the same locality, with the same amenities manage to extract different amounts of money. One of them usually makes a lot more money than the other.
It is not always about where your property is situated and what phase the market is at. In reality it is how well you can market and advertise your product that decides the fate of your success and the profits that are going to flow.
Vancouver Housing Prices
Real estate is a tricky business that scares off anyone other than those who work in it. Like the stock market, it plummets and sky rockets with very little control and can be a source of frustration for many out there who are looking to sell or buy a home. In the Vancouver area, real estate companies as well as clients are amazed at the fact that the housing prices are continuing to rise, causing all sorts of ripples in the pond of real estate. As you can imagine, there are all sorts of varying opinions on the topic.
As the prices climb higher, those looking for homes in the Vancouver area are getting frustrated. Any homes that they are interested in tend to out of their price range by a lot, meaning that the hunt for the perfect house is becoming much harder for anyone but the top 1%. This time of year typically sees the price for homes dropping, but the prices are continuing to stay constant and rise with each new listing. Competitor houses are having to raise their prices too to stay in the market, and that causes a headache for clients and home owners alike. It’s only a matter of time until something has to change.
Moreover, part of the problem with the Vancouver real estate market is that demand is starting to overtake supply. As people flock to the busy city looking for careers and lives, they aren’t able to find a place to live. The population is booming and with the prices high, people aren’t able to buy or sell, so they stay put.
The fact that there is so few homes is what is causing the hike in price. Buyers are being brought into the market with low mortgage rates and are ignoring the huge increase in home sales prices. The entirety of Vancouver is seeing a price hike, not just the typical hike that occurs in the west side. Every corner of Vancouver with a real estate market is seeing a price hike that is making the statistics go off the charts – or pretty close. With the small supply, customers looking for a place to live are starting to consider other parts of Vancouver, like the east side as well as Burnaby.
Interestingly enough, the market out there for the clients looking for homes is very active and a vocal part of the community. Because finding a home is so hard in this mega area, potential buyers are keeping a close eye on the housing market to watch for when something pops up that is within their price range and the area they’re searching for.
It’s a great thing to see for the city of Vancouver, but it is troublesome that the demand for housing is so vastly overtaking the supply of housing available. Even apartment rates have gone up, meaning that quality of life is becoming a problem for those with lower incomes and part time jobs. With the fact that prices are still continuing to rise at a time of year when they normally plummet to a troublesome low, many are worried about how the market will be a year from now. There’s only so much people can do to survive, after all.
While other housing markets have seem a large decrease in asking prices, Toronto and Vancouver are still climbing as the demand rises and rises for a place to live. With all eyes on the business of real estate of this busy city, we will all have to wait with bated breath for the peak to arrive. It’ll be interesting to see what it is when it does come.
An interesting aspect to understand what you’re getting in Vancouver for your one million dollars is to compare it to what you’d be getting for the same amount of money in other cities around the world. Vancouver will provide you with a family home that is as close to the city as possible and has a backyard space that is livable for the entire family. Paying one million dollars will also land you in a good neighbourhood for the kids. Here is comparison around North America.
The interesting example is New York City. For paying around one million dollars, you’ll get a 3 bedroom home in Brooklyn that is approximately 11km from the centre of the city. The home is 1520 square feet and is notably tiny when you compare it to other regions around the world. Take a home in Minneapolis, Minnesota for example. This is a 4 bedroom home with a spacious layout of 4021 square feet. It’s on a beautiful piece of land and has a great interior. More elaborate still is the home in Winnipeg, Manitoba that has a large square feet area of 3124 and has 6 bedrooms. As you can see, the choice and style seems to vary with the region. Now, a million dollars in Los Angeles, California will get you a 3 bedroom home that is close to par with the house in New York City. It’s prime location, at 8 km from the centre of the city, but you’ll pay for it with a high price tag and a somewhat shabby exterior. You can really see the difference that the market makes as you travel from region to region. The homes in Vancouver have the lovely layouts that you’re looking for, but the high one million dollar price range.
As the market continues to shift in Vancouver, residents, potential buyers, as real estate members are keeping a close eye on what’s what. As people flock to the city for a better life and a fulfilling job, homes continue to be snatched up with a higher price tag every week. All eyes remain on the vivacious city and there are all sorts of wonderings of when the price will finally peak and begin to fall back down to the range that many of the newcomers are looking in. Time will tell.
Marketing for Construction Companies – Making Optimal Use of Business Flyers
When used in a proper way, flyers can be one of the best ways to attract new clients. These make a terrific impact on the minds of customers and are affordable to produce as well as distribute. However, using flyers for marketing your construction company can be tricky. Generally, people like to spend only 3 – 5 seconds taking a look at flyers. Naturally, you have to optimize the content, print and design of your flyers in order to make an impact and create a terrific impression on prospective customers.
Focus on an interesting headline
First of all, choose a headline which is concise and simple – designed to interest and inspire the audience. It should promise to be problem-solving for clients and show how you can benefit them. Giving a glimpse into your main services in 4 – 5 bullet points can be enough.
Make a great offer
With the promise of an amazing incentive, you can make customers sit up and take action. The incentives do not need to be monetary, and they can also include things like free gifts, discounts, free trials or coupon codes.
Give a Call to Action
You should clearly state users to take an action in the form of registering to avail a limited discount offer, calling fast in order to be among the first 100 callers to receive attractive rebates etc.
Use attractive designs
You should also use strong visuals so that customers can get a bold image about your enterprise. It should be relevant to your flyer’s headline and reflect the way users should perceive your services and company. Use a high-quality, striking image to create an aura of professionalism.
Use fonts that are easily readable
Use of simple fonts will make it easier for users to read your message. You need to use fonts of proper type and size, in order to ensure a proper hierarchy. Keep in mind that you have just 4 or 5 seconds to make an impression and convey your message to your prospective customers. Naturally, easily readable fonts are important.
Choose high quality printing
The quality of printing of your flyers should also be superior, in order to make them look as high quality as possible. There should be your business logo in a prominent location in the flyers, so that people do not miss seeing it. You can use glossy varnish to specific sections of the flyers and make them more attractive for people to look at.
Marketing for Concrete Contractor Companies – 5 Timeless Advertising Tips that Work in Your Favor
With rising demand for concrete construction and renovation projects, contractor companies are having a field day. However, it is not easy to make a mark among the competition and many firms are facing losses and being forced to go out of business due to this reason. Even expensive marketing campaigns without vision are unable to boost the fortunes for many firms. Marketers are quickly realizing the need for time-honored advertising strategies, which stand the test of time and work as perfectly as they did before. Here are 5 strategies that can work in your favor.
Door hangers
Promotional door hangers consist of an amazing image that describes your business, along with a catchy phrase or tag line which grabs the attention of beholders. These small devices are affordable to produce and can drive a lot of consumers to your door. Door hanger promotion works best with simple, easily readable messages, prominent design and vibrant colors. These never lose their appeal, and can always serve the purpose come rain or shine.
Classified ads
These never lose their impact. With the coming of the internet, classified ads have gone online. You can find many free classified websites over the web where you can post your own ads for free. There are also many paid websites which offer premium listings for a small fee. Although some of these really work great, you have to check the reputation and page rank of the sites before signing up with them.
Yellow Page ads
There are excellent opportunities with Yellow Pages, as it has gone online too. It is still a name to reckon with as far as making a choice from local companies is concerned. Many people still like to use Yellow Pages to find service providers in their areas. Having yourself listed in the Yellow Pages can be one of the sure-fire ways to get many calls coming your way. With the right messages, you will find yourself flooded with calls and emails.
Business flyers
With compelling messages, attractive designs and a powerful caption with your business name and logo along with some basic information, you can make flyers work well for your business. These are still very popular in marketing.
Business cards
If you thought they are passé, you are wrong – for they are still alive and kicking. Handing over a business card with your company name, logo and contact details, website addresses and email id can help you a lot in bagging a lot of customers. It can also ensure good recall value.
Social Marketing for Real Estate Agents – How to Use Social Networking Websites for Your Business?
The growth in the number of social networking websites means a major part of the population is online, and real estate agents are falling over each other to tap this market. Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Google Plus and Instagram are some of the popular ones out there which are being used for real estate promotion. However, before you jump onto the social marketing bandwagon, these are some important tips to keep in mind to ensure optimal success of your social campaigns. A Vancouver SEO company says, ‘besides SEO, social media is extremely crucial for real estate agents’.
Choose relevant social media sites
This simply means you need to shun those that are too flippant in style and tone. Facebook and Twitter are two major social sites which are frequented by millions of users. There is no restriction on what kind of things can be promoted. The look, feel and tone of these sites ensures that everyone from clothing sellers to software app manufacturers and property agents are using them for promotional purposes. Tumblr and Pinterest are mainly about picture posts, and you can use them to publish images of properties available for sale or purchase.
Be a regular contributor
You can hardly hope to grab eyeballs with infrequent posts. Plan a schedule and stick to it regularly. Even if you cannot post everyday, there is no reason to worry about. Posting every alternate day or on 4 days of the week can be good enough. With regular tweets and posts, you can get a sizable number of followers waiting for your next posts.
Post Property Videos
Property videos are important for first-time viewers. These save a lot of time and money on the part of buyers, real estate agents and property developers due to wasted property showings. You can embed these videos onto Facebook and video-blogging platforms like YouTube, and link them back to your own real estate agent website. You may also email the URL links to existing and potential clients to view at some other time.
Interact as much as possible
Whenever you get a positive post, reply to it and build a rapport with your users. The greater the level of interaction, the more you will be able to strike relationships with social media users and get many of them interested in what you have on offer for sale or purchase. Users can find out which properties you represent and contact you immediately if you happen to be interested. Do not forget to share your contact details for public viewing.
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