web-success

A student group from the University of Delaware is among the 42 teams hailing from some of the world's top universities who will vie for more than $1 million in prizes at the 12th annual Rice Business Plan Competition.

A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals and the plan to reach them. Business plan is a decision making tool, there is no set content for writing one. A business plan represents all aspects of business planning process declaring vision and strategy, marketing, finance, operations, human resources as well as a legal plan, when required.

Although a business plan is not crucial to a business, yet it remains one of the most important elements in corporate documentation. A business plan not only outlines the vision and methods for the employees of the company, but also specifies the thought process of the management team for external evaluators like bankers, stock markets etc.

Writing a business plan is not rocket science. There are thousands of websites offering both advice and formats for writing a business plan. Although the format generally is similar, what makes a good business plan is the content. There should be clarity and precision, easy to read and showing a definite plan and goal, along with the methods and path to attain them.

Small Business Saturday, an exceptional marketing campaign by American Express, received the Super REGGIE 2012 Award, the highest honor in American integrated marketing. The Small Business Saturday campaign made a remarkable contribution in spreading the importance of small businesses through social media and traditional media. The campaign has motivated masses in big numbers to purchase from small business merchants.

The 29th Super REGGIE Award ceremony was held at Chicago's Westin River North and was presented by the Promotion Marketing Association (PMA). Apart from Small Business Saturday, two other marketing agencies called Digitas and Crispin Porter + Bogusky also shared this honor. On receipt of this award, Small Business Saturday becomes eligible campaign to represent the US at Globe Awards.

In addition to Super REGGIE, Small Business Saturday also added three other Gold REGGIES for the Best Cause, Social Responsibility Marketing Campaign, Best Social Media Campaign, and Best Retailer-Specific Campaign to its credit. In total there were 21 categories in which 62 REGGIES were awarded. The winner of Gold REGGIE in each category was eligible for the Super REGGIE. PMA President, Bonnie Carlson interestingly mentioned that Small Business Saturday was par excellent amongst all the nominated remarkable marketing campaigns.

Hope American Express goes to win the Globe Award too!

PayPal has launched a mobile payment service for small business merchants who lack a proper payment system. The service called PayPal Here would enable small business vendors to accept credit cards of customers through PayPal, by using a triangular shaped card reader attached to a smartphone. This service would allow the customers to make payments through their credit cards, PayPal accounts or through checks for U.S domestic customers. This service would be of huge benefit for all kinds of small businesses ranging from a coffee shop to a plumber. PayPal Here would allow small business companies to provide more ways of making payments to their customers and thus simplifying their buying process. Such mobile payment service is also offered by another market player called Square.
PayPal Here is currently available on the platform of iPhone, and the version on Android is going to hit the markets soon. The service is unavailable on the Apple's iPad so far; however, Square offers the service on Apple. Small business retailers in the US, Canada, Hong Kong and Australia are already enjoying this mobile payment service and more markets would be covered in the coming times.
The service is indeed a welcome step for industry and consumer.