Dec
11

Top tips for finance sector PR

Finance sector PR can be a very competitive environment, with a large number of players competing for limited space.

The key players in the sector are high street banks (both domestic and foreign), building societies, money aggregator sites, consumer groups as well as other specialist providers. As such, it pays to know your competition and apply a carefully considered PR strategy to ensure your voice is heard.

Before you begin

It’s important to understand the number of different routes to market your finance business before selecting the best type of media to target.

Obviously, people ‘buy’ personal finance products through a large number of sources (eg. high street branch, online, telephone, money aggregator sites, financial advisor, direct sales stands, supermarket checkouts etc.); often, where the product is sold is reflective of the complexity of their need and the product.

This route to market will almost always also influence the media choice of potential customers (e.g.

if your customer is buying via a money aggregator site (e.g. moneysupermarket), they might read other online reviews/stories), and you should bare this in mind when deciding what type of media to approach.

Insight, advice and much more

Most national personal finance sections and online news sources carry some sort of ‘best buy’ comparison tables to help guide their readers.  Getting your product showcased here can do wonders for your business.

Outside of best buy tables, titles vary significantly in the information and stories they will carry; some like surveys and research where others prefer case study lead articles and features that contain opinion and advice.

Analyse your target consumer and understand the media they consume – this will guide your PR strategy.

Setting the agenda

It’s important to understand where publications take their news from.  Some publication write based on their post bag, while others will rely on industry commentators to help identify hot topics

Because of the importance of many commentators, it is worth considering them as an extra audience/media outlet and you should plan an engagement strategy with them into your PR strategy.

It’s important to stay up-to-date.  Often online bulletins/emails from key industry titles will set the agenda – by identifying a story early on you may be able to add to the debate and provide further comment.

Think laterally. Just because you didn’t initiate the story it’s worth considering if you can add to it with statistics, comment, further insight or even a case study that illustrates the topic.

Dec
11

Car Finance Site – 5 Tips For Car Financing

Owning a car has become part and parcel of the American Dream. While it is most certainly still a privilege, to most people car ownership feels almost like a right. Somehow, it feels natural that we should own a car. To be without one, we can feel immobile, stuck and more than a little inconvenienced. And, many of our cities and towns are design in such a way that we really are at a loss in terms of getting around town if we do not have a car.

For most of us, being able to actually own a car requires that we finance it. Most of us do not have the cash on hand to simply buy a new – or even used – car outright.

If you are looking for a car finance site, here are 5 tops for car financing:

1. Get pre-approved for a loan at a local bank or credit union before visiting a dealership: Setting foot on a dealership lot signals to its employees that you are ready to wheel and deal.

It means you are fairly serious about your car purchase and are in the mood to buy soon. That’s why, the more you can do to prepare in advance of actually visiting the dealership, the better position you will be in. One such move is to get pre-approved for a loan before visiting the dealership. Try your local bank or credit union: you might be surprised at the kinds of deals they may offer you.

2. Call ahead to at least 3 dealerships before paying any one of them a visit: You always retain more negotiating power before you set foot on the dealer’s lot. That is why you should call around to multiple dealerships, inquiring about the particular model you are interested in and getting an initial price quote from each dealership. You will walk onto any one lot as a much more confident person, and thereby be in a better position to negotiate.

3. Find out your current credit score: Your credit score is the single most important thing that determines how good of a financing deal you will be offered. Make sure to adequately research your credit score before entering the dealer’s finance office to start the financing negotiations. Make sure you find out how you score is classified (poor, fair, good, or excellent).

4. Keep the car price separate from the financing deal you get: Remember, the dealership is in business to make money. That is why it is important for your to know that the dealer stands to make money off of you in two ways:

a. by negotiating a higher price on the car

b. by getting you to agree to a high interest loan

The mistake many people who are shopping for a car at a dealership make is this: they believe that, once they have negotiated the price on the car that they wanted – they are somehow done negotiating. In other words, they believe they can let their guard down. Not so! It is not over until it is over. Until the moment you sign the financing deal with the finance department, the game is still very much in play. Be prepared and keep your wits about you.

5. If you buy your car at a dealership, do not accept the first financing offer they extend: Just as with anything else in life, it is almost never a good idea to accept the first offer someone gives you. Remember that the finance manager has a range of deals he can offer you. He would of course always like you to accept the one that allows him to collect the most interest from you that he can. But, at the same time, he would rather offer you a lower rate than see you walk out the door! So, hang tough and do not accept that first offer, no matter how good it sounds.

Follow these 5 tips and you will get a much better deal on your car financing.

Dec
11

Personal Finance Goals

Although for some personal finance may come natural, for many the idea of balancing their monthly income against their financial responsibilities can be a daunting task. Some find it hard to set money aside that is needed for electrical bills, water bills, insurance and end up unable to pay some of their necessities when they come due.

However, balancing your personal finance sheet does not have to be this hard. Many financial experts suggest one should create a list of all of his or her responsibilities that must be met each month. After making this list, one should take their net monthly income and see how it stacks up against all the bills that he or she has decided are must pays.

After doing this, your personal finance news become relatively simple.

The hardest part is sticking with the list and making sure everything that is considered a necessity is met. After one has an understanding of their monthly needs versus their monthly income, he or she should also add an amount of savings to the list that contains the must pay bills.

It is recommended by practically every economist that one needs to have some sort of monthly savings plan. You can never tell when the alternator may fail on your car or when the wind blows your screen door from its hinges during a bad storm. By having some sort of savings account, one will be able to make any needed repairs to his or her personal property. After all, for most people a car is necessary to get them to work so this savings account would almost be like an emergency account as well.

Also, there are many ways in which one can cut his or her monthly costs. The ability to cook at home instead of dining out can be a great way to save money. Making sure your car is properly tuned can greatly increase one’s gas mileage, which is another way to cut your monthly costs. When creating a list of one’s monthly priorities, be sure to factor in expenses such as gas, dining out, and other things you may spend money on. It’s not just your power bill and mortgage that takes away from your bottom line. Anywhere there is money being spent regularly is open game to adding to your list.

Dec
07

Free Tips on Business Financing

For a business to stand firmly there is need for adequate funding. You must learn the many types of business financing, learn how to keep cash, how to increase sales, how to do market analysis, how to keep proper customer’s records and how to source for capital for a business. You must consider carefully where to source for funds, how much money you needed to start the business and where to site the business entity. I recommend you source for more money than you actually needed so that the surplus can be transferred to emergency fund. The emergency fund will be kept in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

There are various options of raising funds that may be cheaper than bank financing. The nature of the enterprise will determine how much money needed to start the trade. You must decide whether the project is for a long term or a short term.

This will give you the directions on which type of business financing that suite your business plan. You may decide to lease or purchase equipment, this will depends on the opportunity cost and the duration the equipment will be used for the trade.

When deciding on financing a business that suite you ventures needs, it is significant you submit your business plan to the bank or financier of your business organization. The business plan will give details of the amount needed to run the firm, date of loan repayment, an industry overview, sales analysis, market analysis and customers demand. It includes other sources of revenue to your industry. It also includes the amount you are ready to introduce into the business ventures, whether from your personal savings, friends, relatives or social club members.

Finally, many things are connected with business financing.

If you really want to be successful in day to day running of your entity, make sure you keep adequate records of your daily sales transactions, general expenses, bills receivable and bills payable. Ensure to open separate current account or savings account for your business enterprise. There are some free business resources online that can help you manage your firm properly. These will enhance growth and success to your business.

Dec
04

How To Be A Personal Finance Player

Being a player might be frowned upon in love but in personal finance it has a lot to recommend it.

Player is an Americanism of course and here in the UK we’re just as likely to call those who seem slovenly with their banking tarts, floozies, harlots, hussies, tramps or vamps.

Still, the meaning is the same. When it comes to their finances these people put it about. How can you do the same and why should you?

The first thing to mention is that some forms of moving finance around work better than others.

When you go to compare credit cards, for example, you’ll notice that there are a lot of offers that are only open to new applicants.

Long zero percent interest deals on purchases are a prime example and when it comes to balance transfers moving from one company to the other is a necessity rather than an affectation.

The flip side is also that some cards are only open to those that have a current account with the bank or lender in question too.

This is also of use to the person that’s willing to move their money around to get the best deal but it’ll take a slightly longer time to take effect. Most banks stipulate that an ‘existing customer’ must have been with bank for a number of months before they can apply as one of the bank’s customers for a credit card.

This is also true of other borrowing products. For example, you notice in when you compare personal loans.

Some of the lowest personal loan rates on the market are now solely available to those who have an existing relationship with the lender either in the form of an existing loan or in the form of a current account.

For this reason it’s worth thinking about other products that you may want to move to when you compare current accounts.

It’s also worth noting that since being a player in the world of current accounts is so rare (most never change their main account) the incentives for switching can be good.

This often extends to large amounts of cash for signing up and can also include access to other banking products such as travel insurance.

When it comes to annual fee or ‘bundled’ current accounts, though, being a personal finance player also comes into its own.

It’s likely to be much better value to get products such as mobile phone insurance separately or as part of a larger insurance policy than it would be to pay for it through your existing bank.