VA Business – Page 2 – Business Strategy & Marketing Advice

Why You Should Include Case Studies Within Your Website To Boost Your Business

When deciding what to include in any web design, one of the objectives must be to generate trust from any visitors who land on the website. There are several ways this can be attempted which include ensuring all the security protocols are in place, displaying consistent branding, and publishing reviews and testimonials on your website – check out acclaimed lawyers, www.culshawmiller.com.au to find examples of this.

These are all excellent ways to build trust and credibility for a business via its website, but here is another method, and it is one that, sadly, many websites do not have. We are referring to case studies, which might require somewhat more effort to create than a simple review, but they are certainly more than worth it.

Benefits Of Case Studies

There are several benefits of creating one or more case studies and including them within your web design.

Social Proof: Probably the most obvious one, and hugely important given that the modern consumers online look for as much social proof as they can find whenever they are thinking of buying something.

Sales/Marketing Copy: Whilst you should never turn a case study into a blatant sales pitch, they do provide you with an opportunity to use segments of them and include them in any marketing or sales copy which you use to promote your business.

5 Core Metrics For Home Building Company’s Digital Marketing

Any digital marketing campaign which is set up to promote your new home building company needs to be measured in several ways to establish its viability and your return on investment. Many business owners believe that all they have to do to assess their marketing is check how much revenue is being created but the digital marketing experts will tell you that does not paint the full picture with regards to a campaign’s success.

There are multiple metrics and measures which can give you an indication of how much your digital marketing efforts are succeeding and building a complete picture from each of these metrics, is how you will be can arrive at a definitive answer. Here, we are going to cover 5 of these metrics, and they are the ones which every business owner, including those who own new home building companies should regard as the most indicative of their digital marketing’s performance.

Metric #1: Cost Per Prospect/Lead

Cost per prospect or cost per lead is how to calculate the cost of bringing each individual into your sales funnel. Each business may have a different definition of what they would classify as a lead, but for most, it will be someone who has effectively raised their hand and asked for more information about a product or service. Take the total marketing spend and divide by the number of individual prospects. $5,000 spent to acquire 200 prospects is a cost per lead of $25.

5 Ways Online Marketing Will Help You Grow Your Removalists Business

If you own and run a removalists business, you will know better than us what level of success it has achieved. You might be at the top of your game and genuinely thinking about expanding further thanks to a full order book. On the other hand, you could be struggling, and wondering where your next client is coming from.

The fact is regardless of what end of the success scale your removalists business is at, or if you are somewhere in between the two extremes, the health of your business and its future prospects will be enhanced further if you are able to secure more clients. That sounds a lot easier than the actual actions required to gain those clients, but you should be aware that there are plenty of avenues you can take to try to find them.

One of those is online marketing, for their very simple reason that not only is that where most people do there research when looking for local companies, those numbers have increased greatly over the recent past due to COVID lockdowns. These have meant people who would not previously have used the internet are using it. The key point is now that they have, they will continue to do so.

What that mean is if you are not utilising many of the advantages that marketing online can provide your removalists business, you are losing clients. Worst of all, you are almost certainly going to lose those clients to your local competitors who have had the foresight to instigate an online marketing campaign. If that has not persuaded you of the need for to start marketing your removalists business online, here are some other benefits online marketing can provide.

Regulation D

For most entrepreneurs, the best vehicle to accomplish initial equity financing under an exemption is through the use of a Private Placement Memorandum (PPM) under Regulation D (Reg D), which is a limited offer and sale of their company’s stock, or securities, without registration under the Federal Securities Act of 1933.

Some risks continue under Reg D, but compliance is significantly easier than before Reg D. A major, major point is that complying with Reg D, it provides the company, its officers, and its directors with an insurance policy of sorts regarding disclosure.

There Are Six Basic Rules
Regulation D consists of six basic rules. The first three are concerned with definitions, conditions, and notification. Rule 501 covers the definitions of the various terms used in the rules. Rule 502 sets forth the conditions, limitations, and information requirements for the exemptions in Rules 504, 505, and 506. Rule 503 contains the SEC notification requirements.

The last three rules (504, 505, and 506) deal with the specifics of raising money under Reg D. Rule 504 generally pertains to securities sales up to $1 million. Rule 505 applies to offerings from $1 million to $5 million. Rule 506 is for securities offerings exceeding $5 million. (A complete review of all aspects of Reg D is contained in our book Going Public” – Everything You Need to Know to Take Your Company Public.)

Rule 506: Offerings with no dollar limit

Under SEC Rule 506; an issuer may issue an unlimited amount of securities, with no dollar limit, to 35 unsophisticated investors plus any number of “accredited investors.” There are required disclosures, if a sale of securities includes purchasers who are not accredited investors. All non-accredited investors must be sophisticated and must sign an Investor Questionnaire acknowledging same. Advertising and a general solicitation are prohibited.

The securities are “restricted securities” which may not be readily resold. There is a major advantage to 506, in that it supersedes and preempts the securities laws of all the states. This saves a lot of time, effort, and expense if the issuer is obtaining money from investors in multiple states. Form D must be filed with the SEC within 15 days after the first sale of securities and also with the Secretary of State of each state in which a purchaser is a resident.

Under Rule 506(c)
Just like 506(b). there is no limit on the dollar size and a company can broadly solicit and generally advertise the offering if:

The investors in the offering are all accredited investors; and
The company has taken reasonable steps to verify that its investors are accredited investors, which could include reviewing documentation, such as W-2s, tax returns, bank and brokerage statements, credit reports and the like.

Visit our FAQ page on Private Offerings for additional information

Rule 505: Offerings of $5 million or less

Rule 505 is used for offerings of $5 million or less in any 12-month period and is restricted to 35 purchasers other than “accredited investors.”

There are a number of required disclosures if the sale of securities includes investors who are not accredited investors: advertising and a general solicitation are prohibited, one must inform purchasers that they receive “restricted” securities (meaning that the securities cannot be sold for a time period without registering them), your must not violate the anti fraud prohibitions of the Federal Security Laws, financial statements need to be certified by an independent public accountant or at a minimum, the balance sheet needs to be audited.

Companies must give non-accredited investors disclosure documents that are the same as those used in registered offerings. If a company provides information to accredited investors, it must make this information available to non-accredited investors as well. The company must also be available to answer questions by prospective purchasers. The Issuer must comply with the securities laws of each state in which a person who buys the security is a resident, and must usually file a notice with that state’s commissioner of corporations or similar official.

Should I use a business broker to sell my business?

You would like to sell your business and you are debating should you business a business broker or should you sell your business by yourself. Which option should you use? Do you sell the business on The Business Place website or do you hire a business broker? There are no wrong choices, there are advances of listing the business yourself and there are advantages of using a broker.

If you list your business for sale yourself, you will save commissions. You will also be able to control who is told your that your business is for sale. You have much more control of this feature if you are concerned about your customers finding out about your business for sale.

Rule 504

This rule is considered by many as the perfect answer for the company just starting out OR one that needs to raise less than $1 million.

Regulation D Rule 504 offers such companies:
An exemption to raise up to $1 million
No disclosure criteria
Few general solicitation and resale restrictions
No limit as to the number or type of investors

Actually, Congress’s original intent in 1982 for Rule 504 was to “set aside a clear and workable exemption for small issuers to be regulated by state blue sky requirements, but by the same token, to be subjected to federal anti-fraud provisions and civil liability provisions.” Rule 504 exemption is provided for almost any type of organization, including corporations, LLCs, partnerships, trusts, or other entities. However, it is not applicable to companies already reporting to the SEC (subject to the ’34 Act) or investment companies.

How is your business affected when your spouse wants a divorce?

You have been operating your business for many years and you have been having marriage problems for years. One day your spouse wants finality to the relationship and wants a divorce. How do you cope? Do you have lines of credit that still can be drawn? Is the spouse working for you. I spoke to a person the other day and they split up 4 years ago, live in the same house on two floors and still worked in the business.

No arrangement was made for closure because neither wanted to pay for a lawyer. It is difficult for a married couple to split up however there are two ways to do it, the friendly way or the non friendly way.

When you are using divorce lawyers and are fighting, the only person who wins are the lawyers. The two spouses and their family loses. I saw one spouse who was very vindictive cause the husband to lose 50% of his net worth due to fighting. The kids see the fighting and no one wins.