ΑΝΕΞΑΡΤΗΤΟΙ ΠΑΝΑΘΗΝΑΙΚΟΙ
Το blog απευθύνεται αυστηρώςPublished on: 24.04.2012
What's In, What's Out and What's Coming Up!!
25 March 2012 16:05:00
It is no secret that the entertainment industry is ever-evolving. The industry manages to not only stay abreast of current trends, but the industry is the leader in implementing and generating trends. To keep up with trends of this industry is a full-time job.
The industry's current trend is to use digital platforms to create content and distribute it to the general public. Social media sites have been instrumental in disseminating information, entertainment and advertisements. Over the past ten years, televisions, smart pads, kiosks, autos, and wireless devices have created many new media channels and platforms for the industry. The consumers constant crave for information faster and with more accessibility is insatiable and the industry works diligently to ensure that technology plays a vital role in supplying those demands to the public. Ten years ago, experts in the industry were forecasting that televisions would start to become obsolete, as consumers would be more interested in viewing content, "on the move", via computers, laptops, cell phones and other mobile technological devices (globalfuturist.com).
Marketing and technology are the two critical components that are needed in this industry as well as to an entrepreneur in this market. These are two areas that the industry has mastered and has led the charge, showing other industries the way to reach target markets quickly, seamlessly and more cheaply.
The future of the industry is just as exciting and optimistic. Now that the industry has mastered how to market and provide information to the public through technology, the focus is now on content and its distribution. Content will soon be in the hands of the consumer as opposed to the companies that generally produce content. In fact, as you can clearly see from platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Viddler, etc., consumers have begun to control the content. Many projects from television and movie studios are ideas that are directly associated with content that has been created by consumers and have gone viral or captured the attention of the industry's power players.
The trends in this industry are perpetual and constantly changing. One aspect that will never change is the industry's ability to grow, change and lead the world with innovative and relevant trends, while staying connected with its target market...the public.
http://www.globalfuturist.com/about-igf/top-ten-trends/top-ten-entertainment-trends-for-the-21st-century.html
Show Me The Money!! (Financing for Small Businesses)
11 March 2012 13:38:00
Nothing is more important to an entrepreneur or a small business owner than financing/capital. As many small business owners quickly realize that more money is always needed than was initially anticipated, the search for third party sources of cash begins.
Luckily, there are a multitude of financial resources available to give or loan money, teach you how to prudently use money and how to generate money.
The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) is one of the best vehicles that supports small businesses and entrepreneurs that have community based initiatives. CDFIs is a funding source which consists of private-sector organizations from a myriad of private and public sources (http://cdfi.org/index.php?page=info-1d). According to the CDFI website, the organization financially assists small businesses through the private sector contributors such as "Corporations, individuals, religious institutions, and private foundations. Depository CDFIs, like community development banks and community development credit unions, get capital from customers and non-member depositors." The biggest source of CDFIs funding is through a federal CDFI fund, which makes funding available through capital grants, equity investments, and awards to fund technical assistance and assistance and organizational capacity-building. To be eligible for an FA award, a CDFI must be certified by the CDFI Fund before it applies for the award. Prospective applicants that are not yet certified must submit a separate certification application to be considered for FA during a funding round. Both certified and non-certified CDFIs are eligible to apply for TA awards. However, non-certified organizations must be able to become certified within two years after receiving a TA award.
Touting themselves as the "voice for microenterprise", Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) is instrumental in assisting small businesses via "microlenders, small business development organizations, non-profit lending organizations, and educational institutions dedicated to microenterprise." Some of their contributors are Capital One, Citibank and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
"AEO presents showcases to highlight successful businesses. It is an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of small businesses across the country, as well as the business support organizations that help them thrive.The showcase allows entrepreneurs to promote their products and services, develop relationships with other business owners, and share information on the resources that have been instrumental to the startup and growth of their companies." (AEO, http://www.aeoworks.org/index.php/site/page/category/aeo500_business_owners/)
The CDFI and AEO are just two resource vehicles for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Without financing, small businesses and their ancillary services will fail. All small businesses and entrepreneurs require these pertinent resources and information.
Well, what does this mean...? These organizations are showing start-ups the money!!
Community Development Financial Institutions
Association for Enterprise Opportunity
Two Experts. One Conclusion.
22 February 2012 22:06:00
After further research of the two business experts Jay Turo and David Gumpert, in addition to my own research, I now fully understand the importance of business plans and how investors and other third parties use business plans to make decisions.
Turo and Gumpert both impressed upon me how important it is to know all of details about my business and how to convey these important facts both in the business plan and in execution of the plan. It is not enough to simply outline in a business plan the attributes, strengths, weaknesses and strategy of a business. Execution of the plan is equally important; to capitalize on the positives and opportunities of the business and to amend or extinguish the negatives and deficiencies of the business.
The experts intently expressed that you must have a concise, detailed and direct idea of how your business is structured and operated, as well as how it will be profitable and how it will address its shortcomings. This requires an intense knowledge and understanding of my business. In addition, you must be able to express the knowledge of your business to investors and third parties.
Prior to preparing sections of my own business plan, I had not thought out the specifics of my business, its positioning, and what I thought the trajectory of my business is and should be. After researching with the experts, I redressed my business plan to make sure that it was as detailed and informative as possible. I wanted my plan to answer any question that a third party may have about my business. It is important that my plan shows my wisdom about my business, its market, the company’s short and long-term ambitions and our plan to attain them.
The most important sections of the plan to investors are the marketing section, financial section and the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) sections. Marketing is very important because you must know your target audience, and you must know the most effective way to reach that audience. Marketing and branding are the life forces of any business. With the evolution of technology, marketing has become more precise and allows a business to be more effective. The financial section is undoubtedly the most reviewed and analyzed section of the business plan. Numbers don’t lie and the operations of the company are predicated upon the financial structure and its implementation. The SWOT section gives an internal and external examination of the company’s corporate health. This section outlines the good, bad and ugly of the company, for the executives of the company and for potential investors.
Jay Turo
David Gumpert
Business Plan Expert Blog
To Business Plan, Or Not To Business Plan? Expert Views on Business Plans
03 February 2012 21:50:00
As graduate students, we have repeatedly been told about the importance, the contents and the goal of business plans. Business plans, students have been told, serve three distinct purposes:
1. A business plan can help to move you to action. A business plan will help you to pull apart the pieces of starting a business and examine each piece by itself. 2. A business plan can be an invaluable tool to help keep you on track and moving in the direction you want to go -- a business plan can help to keep you focused. 3. A business plan can serve as a sales tool. You will probably need outside financing to start your business, and a business plan is the tool you need to convince investors to come on board. These are the purposes and views of business plans that students have, but what do the experts think?? In order to answer this question, I chose two of the business industries experts on business plan writing and analyses: Jay Turo and David E. Gumpert.Jay Turo earned a Bachelor's degree with Distinction and with Departmental Honors from Stanford University. In 1999, Jay Turo graduated with his MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. Along with his friend and soon to be business partner, Dave Lavinsky, the two soon founded Growthink, a strategic advisory and investment banking firm, after noticing that people wanted to launch internet ventures, but had no idea as to how to start or finance them. Jay Turo has spent the last 10 years advising and managing business clients. He has worked with all types of companies from new emerging small businesses to multi-million dollar corporations. Turo specializes in private equity investing and entrepreneurship. Turo is also a noted and respected angel investor. His corporate clients have included Deutsche Bank, McKesson, Infospace, Samsung, Porsche, & Paramount Pictures.
Turo adamantly believes that “there are ten key components that investors are looking for in a business plan: Executive Summary, Company Analysis, Industry Analysis, Customer Analysis, Analysis of Competition, Marketing Plan, Operations/Design and Development Plans, Management Team and the Financial Plan. Understanding and applying information to satisfy these components can make the difference between whether or not a business will be funded.” Turo firmly believes that a well-written, concise and informative business plan is the key to ensuring success with the intended recipient.TT Investors aren’t generally interested in the
Learn About Jay Turo
According to Turo, companies and potential investors could care less about the pomp and circumstance of graphics and the creativity of the business plan; they are much more interested in the information in the business plan and the profit that the business will make.t "The two most common pitfalls that Turo and his partner come across are professionalism and not enough information. Many businesses try to add colorful paper, fashion graphics and artwork to their cover sheet, but this is the quickest way to get their business plan discarded." Most investors only want to invest in a business that shows a large and thriving market for the product or service they’re offering, and an investor will only continue reading the business plan if it’s something they are interested in and could potentially secure the deal.
David E. Gumpert is a graduate of the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Harvard’s Business School. He worked as an editor at Inc. Magazine and the Harvard Business Review. He has authored many books on business and entrepreneurship and regularly blogs. Gumpert has written a number of books about small business and entrepreneurship, including Burn Your Business Plan! Gumpert, believes that the business plan should be customized to meet the needs of the company. For instance, “if the individual is looking to attract investors, then the business plan should be tailored to meet the preference of the investor.” Gumpert confirms, “it is the job of the entrepreneur to sell themselves, the business venture, and the potential success in the amount of time, space, and energy the investor is willing to spare.”
Uncharacteristically, Gumpert invests in another principle…“burn your business plan! (Entrepreneurship.org, n.d.).” Basically, Gumpert believes that effort means much more than intention. Entrepreneurs, according to Gumpert should be focused on the business and not on drafting a business plan. In essence, let your works speak for the business rather than your words about the business. Additionally, Gumpert feels as if some parts of the business plan, such as financial projections can be misleading and really are more writings of fiction and shouldn't be taken so seriously by potential investors. Gumpert alludes that while business plans can paint a prettier picture than reality might reflect, hard work and efforts to make business successful is much more effective.
Learn About David Gumpert
Although the experts moderately disagree on the approach and purpose of the business plan, they both agree that the most important items that investors are looking for are accurate and concise information about the company which leads to profitability of the business. Whether you subscribe to Turo's approach concerning the 10 pertinent components of a good business plan or Gumpert's more hands-on approach, to interest an investor or company, you must undoubtedly subscribe to their definitives that time, knowledge and purpose must be components for a successful business plan and its execution.
Business Plan Expert Views
Burn Your Business Plan!
"Must Tweet TV": The New Era of Marketing
18 January 2012 15:59:00
The first method was word-of-mouth, shortly thereafter it was radio, then along came television...now, today's prolific method of advertising is digital marketing.
Digital marketing has permeated every industry in the world, including entertainment. Television is one of the genres that perpetually and consistently benefits from the use of digital marketing. Digital marketing is used in every area of television; from this year's presidential campaign to sporting events and award shows, platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are being used to instantaneously connect with existing fans, create new fans and attract advertisers. In fact, social media marketing has become so engrained in television, that industry experts are calling this new age of marketing, "must Tweet TV".
In addition to the benefit of connectivity, television networks use digital media in conjunction with smart phones and computers to provide consumer data, which helps television execs decide on the viewership of a show and the audiences immediate response to it (Reuters, 2012).
Television networks use digital media to promote a new, upcoming show or to reintroduce the airing of an existing show or episode. After this preliminary information is gathered, it is important to find an accurate way to "use it more effectively and monetize it." Without this ability, networks will never be certain as to how this new brand of marketing stacks up against the more traditional methods of marketing and whether the resources used to maintain the digital campaign is worthwhile. However, networks and television execs are understanding how powerful social networking is to advertisers. The generation of audience information that digital marketing provides helps to persuade advertisers on where, how and to whom they should spend their ad dollars (Reuters, 2012).
The relationship between television and social media is constantly evolving. Whereas initially social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook were used by celebrities and athletes to tell their fans what was going on and how they were feeling, now social media sites are being used by networks to increase exposure and "build buzz"during certain climatic show moments and to increase viewership.
Not everyone is excited about utilizing this different brand of marketing. Some are concerned that too much effort is being given to a form of marketing that could potentially be a trend or fad. The answer to this is yet to be seen, but the current climate proves that digital and social media marketing are increasingly popular and are growing and expanding with new digital platforms being introduced almost monthly to keep the public ever connected to their favorite television shows.
Tweeting TV
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