Tag Archives: Marketing Strategies 

Networking happens to be a very important part of all successful business rapport. It's pretty simple custom worldwide to offer and receive business cards. Nonetheless, we keep receiving too many of those cards these days. And more importantly, we do need to take a look at those as cross references every now and then.

So you can seriously call any single card as unnecessary, right? But with the stream of cards coming in, what could be the best ways to keep track? This article tells you that a few tips about keeping cards but organized. If you follow the following tips sincerely, you should find it easier keeping track of the in-streaming cards.

Typical card holders get messy attentimes and are tough to effectively navigate through. Fortunately, there's the following solutions are user friendly when it comes to organizing cards.

For following these tips, you'll need to have a 3-ring binder, card file binding sleeves (transparent) and insert-capable binder dividers that come with tabs.

To begin with, you've got to congregate all the business cards you have. Also pile up all the contacts you've got till now. Then check everywhere (in the drawers, in between files or under the papers) you might have left those. And do care to check in the desk, in your car, benefit your bed, or even in your closet! It's an accumulation you are up to, right? So you do not want to miss out anything at all!

Next, you will buy a 3-ring binder. The binders' size will depend on how many business cards you're up to organizing. Just in case you've got tons to organize, consider getting a 2-inch binder. Whatsoever, the majority of the people might get away if they just get a 1-inch or a 1.5-inch binder. It all depends on your unique situations, actually!

You will need to buy a transparent looking card holder vinyl. But plastic sleeves will also do. You can collect those from the nearby local stores. But do ensure they've got holes for easily placement in the 3-ring binder. You might also buy such pages at online supply stores.

Get insert-able tabs to work with the binder. You may decide to categorize the cards in whichever way way works best. You can get alphabetical tabs or multicolored tabs just in case you want to sort those cards in yet another way. Make sure you are keeping a blank sleeve or two at the end of every category to ensure future rearranging.

Done? Then just insert those cards in your transparent card file sleeves. It's okay if you decide to just design 1 business card for each slot. You can also insert the cards back-to-back for making most out of the space. It's a little bit easier to access those cards when you put 1 in every slot.

And finally, label the binder cover with a qualified title (eg 'Business Cards' or 'Important Contacts'). Just make sure you are making an obvious choice. But being creative here …

This is an advanced article for people looking to strengthen their knowledge base about a Business Analyst's work. It covers what the involvement of the Business Analyst in the SDLC. For the uninitiated, SDLC is the System Development Life Cycle, meaning the life cycle of the development of a system. It is basically the step by step detailing of all the processes that take place in the development of a system. A business analyst is closely associated with the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

To begin with, a brief overview of the SDLC steps is given below for the people who are new to the field of IT and Engineering and to refresh and jog the memory of those already in the know.

SDLC contains of the following steps:

· Project Planning and Feasibility Study – This is where the project is planned in advance with timelines and results expected. A feasibility study is done prior to that to determine if the system is indeed feasible.

· System Analysis and Requirements definition – This is where the Business Analyst in consultation with the client of the project, who will be the end user of the system, defines the requirements clearly and a thorough analysis is done.

· System Design – This is the phase of the SDLC where the system is designed as per the requirements.

· System Development – Here, the system coding and development is done by the technical team working on the project, consisting of the software engineers and programmers.

· System Implementation – Here, the system is actually implemented, meaning the developers actually put together their creations in the previous phases. This phase could generally be called the actual creation of the software.

· System Integration and Testing – Here the software developed and implemented, is actually tested to see if it is working fine before it is actually integrated.

· System Acceptance and Installation – Here, the software developed and created is actually checked if it will be work in live conditions and be beneficial to the client's company, for which it is designed for.

· System Maintenance – The software developed, and then should be maintained well. Any problems arising are then fixed appropriately to maintain the developed software well. Proper and timely monitoring of the software will ensure reliable, efficient software.

The Business Analyst is involved at all stages of the SDLC. The Business Analyst works closely with the client, who is the end user of the project, and defines the requirements after thorough study of the existing system, and after gauging the feasibility of the intended new system. The remaining phases also require the integration of the Business Analyst since it is the bridge between the client and the technical team of software developers and programmers which are working on the project.

The Business Analyst should be well versed in both – the business of the client so as to understand what his needs are from the intended system, and the IT …

It always excites me when a new company emerges in a reasonably well-established industry, because it is sure to shake things up a bit. The new company will inevitably claim that it is revolutionizing the industry and the established industry leaders will set out to prove that they are not. Whatever the case may be, it usually ends up benefiting the consumer and so it is with some (voyeuristic) excitation that I take a look at what Stream Cosmetics is setting out to do.

At first glance the company looks like a very shiny re-packaging of products already on the market and given that Stream Cosmetics is a subsidiary of Luminess Air this may well be the actual case. The product line is nicely designed, but in no way is the stylus, compressor or foundation revolutionary. It does come in a very cute quilted and shiny travel case or clutch, so that's a nice touch, but it still does not stop anyone who knows a bit about the industry from realizing there is nothing actually new on sale from Stream Cosmetics.

Their product range includes the usual foundations (in matte and dewy formats), blushers, highlighters, bronzers, eye shadows and a spray tanning addition. For non-airbrush application they are also selling liquid eyeliner in a felt-tip pen format – marketed as being like a temporary tattoo, concealers and finishing powders. First reports are that the foundation formula is a bit on the runny side and this may be something inherited from Luminess Air as well.

Where it gets really interesting is the business model they are putting forward. Personally I'm not a big fan of home selling, pyramid type business ventures but I may be a minority there, so Stream Cosmetics could really shine in this regard. Even though they may not have the best product on the market Stream Cosmetics has made a bold choice in letting the bulk of their customers come through the multi-level marketing business opportunity they are offering. This may mean that thousands of women out there will be introduced to airbrushing through a friend who is a Stream Cosmetics consultant and of course buying from them without even considering the alternatives. When you look at it this way it is a very smart move on the part of Stream Cosmetics.

The couple of pitfalls I see for the company is that their products and refills are comparatively more expensive than the industry leaders, so this may discourage buyers. Also if their actual product is not as impressive as they claim even friends may have trouble convincing friends that it is worth the expense to make the Stream Cosmetics airbrush system a part of their makeup essentials.

Whatever happens I'll be watching the progress of Stream Cosmetics with interest and comparing it to my favorite airbrush company. …