Cazenove - JP Morgan Merger Terms Finalised

01/21/2010


The 186 year old stock broking firm, Cazenove is all set to undergo massive changes as the firm readies to merge some divisions with competitor JP Morgan. The merger will also involve a change of location for Cazenove’s offices.

Cazenove is stockbroker to social celebrities like Her Highness the Queen and David Beckham. The firm had earlier been functioning out of Tokenhouse Yard near the Bank of England before it moved to premises within the city in 2003. From this location at 20 Moorgate, Cazenove will now move to 312,000 sq ft of desk space in 10 Aldermanbury.

The company has a history being employee friendly and known to protect its employees. In fact when they moved they even retained the same door man even though they have moved many times during the long history of existence.

The firm has been functioning as a joint venture with a US bank for 5 years now. Recently the remaining holdings in Cazenove were acquired at £1b. Now the firm’s business centre will be merged into JP Morgan’s European hub.

The merger is expected to mean a big change for employees who are more used to the traditional work environment, which always prevailed at Cazenove. Sources from within the company are not sure the merger will sit well with employees. While some employees may be asked to leave, Cazenove will protect most of its staff. It is believed that the equities division of Cazenove will henceforth be called JP Morgan Cazenove and will be managed by Alan Carruthers.

JP Morgan has recently been in the news with rumors that its new headquarters project is being shelved for now in line with its plans to reduce investment in office space in UK.

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Voice Over Training Effortless with EdgeStudio.com

12/12/2009

Voice Over Training

Do you have a distinctive voice that would be ideal for a cartoon character? Are you able to do impressions or vocal impersonations? Then turn your natural talents into a career with voice over training. Movies, TV and radio rely on skilled voice over actors as part of their projects. Everything from television, movies and radio all require some form of voice over work at one point of another. Many use voice over training as a springboard into on camera acting and even professional speaking.Voice over castings are held regularly to recruit voice over talent for major production companies. However, without proper voice over training and credentials, you will not make far in the industry or even have access to voice over casting calls.

For instance, the voice over training program offered by EdgeStudio.com is divided into four phases: Getting Started, Get a Demo, Get Customers and the Profesional phase. EdgeStudio.com also offers “ala carte” voice over training methods available for anyone who simply would like to polish up on specific areas such as accents. Maybe most impressive, any students preferring to initiate their voice over careers with EdgeStudio.com are given an all-inclusive experience featuring career guidance, candid assessments of their work and personal voice over coaching. With training available in this innovative medium, students are prepared for real-world experiences as tele-training takes advantage of technological connectivity to provide top-notch voice over training to anyone regardless of where they live.

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Balfour Beatty is Newcastle West One’s First Occupant

08/11/2009

The Balfour Beatty Group recently moved in to occupy the 10,000 square feet area of the top floor of Newcastle’s West One building. The contract lease will be valid for ten years.

They are the first tenants to move into the building this year. The building - a ten-storey structure with six storeys of parking space and the rest shared office space - is owned by the Mandale Group. Now that the first tenants have moved in, it is likely to see a number of letting deals, as the owners seek to let out the remainder of the total 44,500 square feet of office space of which Balfour Beatty has taken 10,000.

Joe Darragh, the estates manager for Mandale, commented that they are very happy at Balfour Beatty’s leasing out the top floor and said that he is confident the West One building will attract a lot more prospective occupants in the coming days. He added that a number of other top rated companies would be looking at West One for office space due to its favourable location at the end of Forth Banks on Quayside’s west side.

In a separate statement, Mandale declared they are currently handling a number of enquiries from parties interested in leasing the rest of the office space in West One, and that new deals will be finalized shortly. The group feels confident the property will do well in the real estate market due to its world-class facilities and unique location, in spite of the current recessionary economy.

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Leaflet Distribution a Effective Way to Advertise Your Company throughout the Credit Crunch. How to Come through the Gloom

02/01/2009

Doing leaflet distribution services are some of the most redeeming ways to increase upper hand over your competitors. How? Direct Mailing is the answer. By applying a sustained leaflet distribution campaign you can attain uttermost
exposure via the letterbox. Its a very over looked advertising scheme which always work very well, that is ofcourse is using leaflet distribution

If your product is fashioned to appeal to a common market and you want to focus on a really specific region, letterbox campaigning is a great, affordable way of touching your target market.

But careful in the preparation of your leaflet distribution promotion as this is essential if you are to make the most of your investment.

Leaflet distribution provides you to return specified reply from targeted groups of customers. It’s a especially
useful tool for small businesses because it permits you to direct specified resources where they are most likely to bring about result and quantify the success of campaigns accurately by breaking down responses. Simply remember that the outcomes of leaflet distributoin aren’t guaranteed. A poorly planned or targeted campaign will be a waste of money

There are a list of different methods in which leaflet distribution has been applied in a semipolitical way. Some of these causes are as follows. One of the most everyday practices of brochure drops is to provide people with data to counter info that has been delivered by the opponent. The pamphlets can also be used to endanger individuals with an assault. This is peculiarly probably in fights in which ground forces can inform opposition military personnels that they will occupy if no activity is taken. The leaflets in war situations are often used to encourage the opposition to surrender and if how to go about surrendering without facilitating a retaliation.

If you have decided that a leaflet distribution will be a great form of advertising in order to bring in some much essential likely business, then you need to set about the task of choosing the most acceptable business to carry out the distribution for you.

In That Respect there are many elements to be thought when doing this, these are all important in receiving the strongest leads from your distribution.

You need to study where you are going to aim your material and the coverage and penetration that you want to accomplish. If you are just thinking of a decreased promotion in the localised region, it may be wise to choose a small local business who just manage the smaller promotions in one region. They are quite probably to be cost effective, and have lower lead times. Accountability may be a problem if things do not go according to plan, so this demands to be weighed against the number of financial spending.

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Steve Case: the Driving Force behind AOL

01/21/2009

Stephen McConnell Case, or Steve, a Political Science graduate from William College was a manager for Pizza Hut, Inc. when he met William Von Meister, an investment banker, in 1983. Von Meister, founder of Control Video Corporation, hired Steve to be the company’s marketing consultant. Steve Case was to handle the Gameline ventures for the Atari 2600 video game consoles that allowed users to download games through the modem or the phone. In that same year, Control Video Corporation almost declared bankruptcy.

In 1985, Von Meister quietly left the company in tatters. However, as the reorganization in the company ensued after Von Meister’s departure, Steve quickly blitzed through the ranks. He was named Vice-President of the company, which was renamed as Quantum Computer Services, Inc. Jim Kimsey acted as CEO at that time. Steve Case’s performance impressed Kimsey, who decided that Case would replace him the moment he would step down.

Under Kimsey’s leadership, changes were made in the company’ business strategy. They began to include online games including: Habitat, which featured graphical chat environs; and Neverwinter Nights, the very first MMORPG to feature graphics. Kimsey retired in 1991 and turned over the helm to Steve, naming him the new CEO. In the same year, Quantum Computers was renamed to America Online.

With Steve Case as the new CEO, America Online prospered, leaving behind competitions like Genie, CompuServe, and Prodigy. Its client base expanded to 10 million users. Due to the large number of people trying to get online with a system that could only cater to a few, led to many subscribers canceling their subscriptions. During this time, the company was jokingly called “America Offline.”

After a decade of success and some problems, Steve Case reached his highest profile as CEO in 2000, when AOL merged with Time Warner.

Keep up with Dr. Laura on her exclusive YouTube Channel.

On Laura Schlessinger’s blog, you can enjoy the down to earth advice of America’s #1 talk show adviser.

The Jewish World Review has collected articles by Dr. Laura Schlessinger.

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Left Brain Right Brain Student Survey

12/13/2008

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Are you ready to discover how to make as much money as you need in order to take care of you wants and needs? Do you have an online connection, time to spare and an opinion? If you do and you are ready to start making money online you will find that there are industries online who want to know what you think about their products and services. Your opinion is worth a great deal. Big businesses are ready and willing to pay you accurately and on time for taking their surveys. Read on to find out more about Left Brain Right Brain Student Survey. The most popular ways for teens to make money online at the moment would have to be taking paid surveys. Find out more about Left Brain Right Brain Student Survey and Get Paid To Preview Movie Trailers Without Survey. Most of these surveys will be for under a dollar and will take over 30 minutes in time.
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Avoid Being Vague

07/10/2008

We are bombarded with thousands of marketing messages daily…on television and the radio, on the internet, in magazines and newspapers, on billboards and other signs, and even at the bottoms and on the backs of receipts. The world is, indeed, a very noisy place. And in order to get heard, we need our marketing messages to be clear and concise.
A vague message is one that isn’t easily understood - it doesn’t speak to a potential customer or client. To be successful in business, our messages must clearly target a specific audience, explaining to them the features and benefits of our product or service. We need to get the public involved and interested enough to want to have further conversations with us. Only then do we have the entr©e for beginning to develop a relationship with them, the first step in the selling process.
How can we ensure that our messages are all that they can be?
1. Define your target market. One of the best ways to create a clear output is to start with clear inputs. When it comes to anything you do for your business, you need to be very clear on your target market. Who do you want to reach with your marketing efforts? Define them as clearly as possible. Are they male or female? What are their ages, their occupations, and their lifestyles? Why would they want to do business with you? The more clear you are about who you want to work with, the more clear you will be when crafting your marketing messages.

2. Market narrowly, but deliver broadly. Your marketing message should be carefully focused to cater specifically to the needs and wants of your target market. One might think you’d be passing up opportunities for more customers or clients. The reality is that more people will be attracted to you if you position yourself as a specialist rather than a generalist. Folks associate a higher degree of expertise with a specialist, and, more than likely, you’ll be able to charge premium prices to reflect this marketing position. Once you’ve gotten their attention you can market many things to them (delivery broadly).

3. Talk about the customer, not yourself. Your marketing message should speak to the prospect, their particular needs and wants. What problems can you solve for the customer? Make a list of the top 10 problems that you solve for others. These should be the substance and focus of every conversation that you have. Avoid talking about yourself. People are interested in what you can do for them - sometimes even more than the specifics of the product or service that you offer. Your prospects needs and your solutions should be the focus of all of your marketing materials.

4. Explain the benefits. Not only should you explain the benefits of your product or service, but you should be able to explain the benefits of working with you. Features are defined as the distinctive characteristics of a product’s use or design. A benefit, on the other hand, is how the feature will add value to the prospect’s life. Carefully define your features and benefits. At the same time, what are the benefits of working with you? Do you provide 24-hour turnaround? Do you return emails and phone calls promptly? Do you offer a free introductory consultation? Do you provide additional value to your customers - extra reports, information or discounts on future purchases? People buy benefits, not features. What’s in it for them? Let them know!

5. Know your products and services. There is a lot to know when it comes to your products and services. The more articulate you are in explaining their features and benefits, the higher your chances of closing a sale. For each product or service you offer, make sure you can clearly articulate the features, the benefits, and the specific client need that is addressed. Word this information in language that prospects can clearly understand - that relates to who they are as a target market. Drafting a simple one-page summary of these details can help you to get clear on what matters most.

6. Keep it simple. The best messages are those that are simply said. People understand simple. The more complex the explanation, the higher the risk you run that you’ll “lose them along the way.” Again, refer back to the one page summary of your client needs, as well as product or service features and benefits. Provide information that is easy to understand. Don’t give more information until the client asks for the information. Always let the prospect guide the conversation.

7. Use a tagline. A tagline is a slogan or phrase that conveys something about a feature or benefit of something you offer. For example, the tagline for Chase Manhattan bank is “The Right Relationship is Everything”. This slogan clearly communicates that one of the features of working with them is relationship - not just any relationship - but the right relationship. Another example of a tagline is Alicia Smith: The DISC Ninja. The DISC Ninja implies skill, precision, and performance. What type of tagline can best describe you and your business?

8. Consult your R & D team. To create on-target marketing messages, run them by your friends, family, and colleagues before you release them to the world. Creating your own R & D team is a great way to experiment or to try out your ideas in a low-risk environment. Probably one of the best things to do is to get feedback from your current customers. They can tell you first hand what works and why. Never pass up an opportunity to get feedback, as it will help you to fine-tune your marketing message.

9. Provide clear and clean information. It should go without saying that you should provide clear, easy-to-understand information. This applies to everything from your business card to your website. Make sure you include your complete contact information on everything, including your email signature. Provide FAQ or Frequently Asked Question sections in brochures, on your website or on other marketing materials. Make sure that you make it as easy as possible for people to contact you and to do business with you. If they need to search for how to contact you, they may very well search someone else out. Along with the times and days you do business, include your business, cellular, and fax numbers, as well as your website and email addresses. Include instructions on how to return or receive a refund on an item. Clear and concise is the name of the game.

10. Understand the customer. Prospects, and even your current customers, are focused on one thing and one thing only; what’s in it for them. For the most part, they aren’t really interested in you or your product or service. They are interested in benefits. How can you solve their pain? How can you resolve their issues? If you keep this in mind, this will help you to create marketing messages that are focused and really hit their mark.

© Copyright 2004 by Alicia Smith

Alicia Smith, a Coach and Trainer whose specialty is helping people Make Money Now.
This article is derived from just one of the 26 lessons contained in her audio program, Marketing Marathon Blunders From A - Z. To learn more about that course and her other products and services, please visit www.AliciaSmith.com.

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Seven Ways to Kick Up the Power of Your Print Advertising - More Small Business Power Tools

06/01/2008

If you’re a retailer and the only kind of advertising you do is built around sales events, you don’t need much in the way of advice. All your advertising needs to do is spell out as clearly as possible what’s on sale, the amount to be saved and your store’s name, address and phone number. You should also include your web address as most of today’s consumers expect you to have one.

But what if you’re not a retailer or you don’t have a sale to advertise?

Here are my seven tips for kicking up the power of your print advertising

Know thy customer. Close your eyes and try to visualize a typical customer. What’s important to him? What problem(s) is she trying to solve? How old is he? Does she have children? How much do you suppose she earns a month? What would make him want to do business with you? What does he want from your product or service? The better you understand your customer the stronger a sales message you can create.

Your headline must capture your propects’ interest. Your reader’s eye will be drawn to your ad by its main graphic, be it a picture or illustration. The second thing he/she will see is your headline. It must serve as a bridge between the graphic and your ad’s copy, and then capture your readers’ attention or you will lose them and will have wasted your money. The best way to do this is to build your headline around a strong benefit statement. Again, keep in mind your prospect’s needs and interests or the problem they are looking to solve. For example, a strong benefit statement would be”How to retire at age 55 without sacrificing a penny of income.” I also like headlines (see the title of this article) with numbers, i.e., “Eight ways to look younger in minutes,” “Five mistakes to not make when buying fine furniture.”

Everybody wants to talk about their children and not yours. Of course, I don’t mean this literally. What I mean is that people don’t care about you and your business. They care about themselves and what you can do for them. I know this is going to depress you, but customers don’t care how long you’ve been in business, how big your business has become, how beautiful your new store is, etc. They only want to know what you have to offer that can make their lives better, save them money or help them solve an important problem.

People love stories. I’ll bet that when you were a kid, one of your favorite things was story time. As human beings, we just seem to be hard-wired to love stories. If you business lends itself to this idea, try starting you ad with a simple story. For example, if you were selling financial advice, you might start out with: “I have two old friends. Let’s call them Scott and Janet. They both loved gardening and their lifelong ambition was to retire early and start a garden shop. Unfortunately, they suffered some financial setbacks and found themselves at age 55, with enough money to retire but not enough to start that dream business. When Scott and Janet came to me ….etc.”

Start paragraphs with connecting words to keep your readers reading. Once you’ve pulled your readers into your ad, the challenge is to keep them reading to the end. The way you do this is by using connecting words at the beginning of paragraphs. Some good connecting words are “also,” “in other words,” “so,” “but,” “and,” in short,” “for another thing,” and “plus.

Give your readers a reason to do something. You must end every ad with a call to action (see #7 below). But don’t forget that you have to give your reader a reason to take that action. This could be the offer of something free such as a booklet or brochure, a free demonstration, a free sample, etc.

Always end with a call to action. Never, and I mean never, end an ad without asking your reader to do something. The something could be to call you (with a prominent phone number), stop by your store, cut out and mail a coupon, or visit your web site. This is not only critical to “closing the sale,” but also can help you track the effectiveness of your advertising. If your call to action is for the prospect to phone you, it’s always good to add something like “call us at 303-555-1234 and ask for, say, Bart.” That way, whenever a person calls and asks for Bart, you will know your ad generated that response. The next time you run the ad, you could tell your prospect to call and ask for Chuck, etc. If your advertising includes a coupon, be sure to code it so you will know which ad generated the response.

EzineArticles Expert Author Douglas Hanna

Have you heard about HD radio technology? It makes AM sound as good as FM and FM sound almost like you were listening to a CD … and its free! To learn more about this amazing new technology, just go my Web site, http://www.hd-radio-home.com, to get all the buzz. Douglas Hanna is a retired marketing executive and the author of numerous articles on HD radio and family finances.

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Innovative Products at Tremendous Discounts

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to those quirky “As Seen on TV” advertisements. I’m sure you’ve seen them - they’re the ads for products that you can’t find in stores, the ones that say, “Call in the next ten minutes and receive two for the price of one!” Although there are certainly some questionable products advertised, there are also some real winners that are bargain priced at tremendous discounts.

I’ve bought hundreds of “As Seen on TV” products over the years, and have only been disappointed a handful of times. Sometimes I do call the toll-free number, but in the last few years, I’ve begun to buy these items at great discounts through online malls. I’ve bought very cool art supplies for my son, gardening tools, household cleaners, DVDs, and even electronics.

I know that many of my friends dismiss these “As Seen on TV” products as being of inferior quality or as scams, but I beg to differ. My philosophy is that there are tens of thousands of people out there who have great ideas and great products, but they haven’t been able to gain traction with big manufacturers and distributors. Selling directly to the public doesn’t mean that the product is inferior; it just means that they haven’t found larger distribution channels.

Truly, I’ve found that some of these products are pure genius. I recently bought a baking set that fulfills its “As Seen on TV” promise: the four pans really do enable you to make dome-shaped cakes with scrumptious fillings. And that bacon contraption really does let me make crisp bacon in the microwave with very little mess. About a year ago, I bought a tool to clean out my rain gutters, and it worked wonders. The twenty dollars I spent on that tool saved me the hundred dollars I usually spend when I call the gutter cleaning service.

Even my son has become enamored with “As Seen on TV” commercials. He saves his allowance so that, when he sees something he loves - like special art pens or a digital drawing system - we can go to our favorite online mall and order it.

Needless to say, I don’t buy every product I see advertised on television, and in addition to shopping at online malls I also shop at brick and mortar stores. But I continue to believe in those clever products I see on TV, and will keep buying at discounts that would make my friends jealous.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web.
Learn more about Innovative Products at Tremendous D or Majon’s Shopping - General directory.

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Can’t Get Right - Maybe It’s Just a Word

05/12/2008

One of the people I worked with in advertising, had an
expression “Can’t Get Right”. What the heck does it mean? Well,
when he could not seem to get ad copy…. right, he would walk
in and say, this ad “Can’t Get Right”.

This was his way of telling me that he had come to wits end
trying to get this particular ad to his level of perfection.
Actually, he would tell you that it was my level of perfection
that was not met. :o)

What does one do when they reach a point of knowing that
something is just not quite right with an ad?

I know I spent the time researching and going through all the
steps necessary to write a successful ad. But something is just
not quite right.

Ad writing is a very sensitive operation.

Amazingly, sometimes the addition of one word can totally change
the effectiveness of an ad. In the same light, removing a single
word can sometimes be just as effective.

I am going to give you a couple of examples.

A while back I ran an advertisement for Solo Ads in Money For
Hire.

The first time I ran the ad with this headline.

Solo Ad to 3000 Opt-In Subscribers

The ad did pretty well but I decided to try adding a word to see
what kind of results it would bring. Here is the revised ad.

Solo Ad to 3000 Totally Opt-In Subscribers

The revised ad brought a 60% increase in click through.

Why? Sometimes there is no sane reason why. Personally, I like
the first ad much better. But the fact is, results are the only
thing that counts and sometimes trial and error is the only way
to find the ad that actually brings the greatest results.

Here is case where dropping a single word did wonders. The first
ad headline was basically a total flop.

Create Your Own 24/7 Money Making Machine

You have probably seen many versions of this ad. This particular
ad ran in a number of ezines. It did not produce very good
results. But dropping a single word, instantly made it a winner.
Here is the revised headline.

Create Your Own 24/7 Money Machine

One of the steps to creating a successful ad is testing your
headlines. When you test a headline and it does not bring the
results you are looking for, sometimes a single word can make
all the difference in the world.

Next time your ad screams “Can’t Get Right” A simple word may be
the answer.

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