I'd recommend framing your Adwords ads in a positive light - instead of calling out specific medical issues in your copy, describe the benefits. (ex: instead of "Experiencing hearing loss?" try "Improve your hearing!") I imagine there are several ways to rephrase your copy to get your ads approved and still deliver the same message. You can also try remarketing on Facebook, if it's a good fit for your audience. I don't believe they're as strict with this rule, so you may find that easier. There should be need to go through a 3rd party retargeting platform - you can build your ads directly through Facebook with no extra fees. Hope this helps!

Typically Apple and Google will consider coins and credits a type of digital currency. Under their terms and services these types of products in an application must be transacted through the AppStore and Play Store so they get the 30% cut. When I worked for Groupon, building their Android application, they were not required to use the IAP from either platform. This is because they were selling a product or service. As you stated - you're selling a service. You may need to change the wording from "Credits" to "Balance" (or something similar to that) and have that reflected as actual dollar amounts in the app. I would also be very clear that you are selling a service - not digital goods. If this is truly what you are doing (selling a service), then you should be in the clear. Disclaimer: These TOS change all the time. The last time I dove in and read one end to end regarding IAP was about nine months ago. But I'm fairly certain the service and product thing still applies. You may want to consult your lawyer and review the TOS with them to be sure you're not in the grey area.

Don't take no for an answer. If you believe in your app, then ask for investors. Start small and you can ask for more later. Spend as much time as it takes to come up with answering this question..Why would I buy your product or service? This will give you your USP. From there you will develop your drive, your, passion, and your marketing voice. From this you will develop unstoppable perseverance for success. Best of Luck, Mike From the Trenches to the Towers Marketing I will be glad to help as my time permits.

Although I understand Portuguese, I won't attempt to write it. Here is my answer in English: So you have an Arch. & Engineering firm that just opened. First you need the basics: 1. Business Cards (my team can do design for you) 2. Nice booklets (magazine style) presentations, also called “sales sheets/books” 3. Beautiful looking website (my team can do this for you) 4. A dedicated focused target market – what industry has more potential for the skillsets/number of employees you have? For example, maybe residential design is better for you instead of large mining complex campuses. 5. A list of fellow engineers & architects 6. A list of all focused industry businesses that are immediately accessible to you in that area. 7. Add yourself to map search engines like google maps, or other sites like Yelp.com- the more the better. Once you have that, make a plan of execution. This plan can be as simple as find a meet event and pass cards or as complex as involving social media, google advertisements, local site sponsorships, event networking, intro to engineering firms, intro to potential clients, etc. I will give you an example, my team and I ran a marketing campaign for an engineering firm that was struggling after 2008. All their larger industrial and mining clients were walking away and postponing their construction needs. This engineering firm didn’t have any recognition in the city because most of the clients were in other states and countries but now it needed to get work from small companies in their city to be able to remain in business. One of the things we did was call real estate developers/real estate managers of empty property lots and asked for information on a random piece of land, if they had been sold we would ask to whom or for any further information on that property. We would then contact the firm that purchased the land. We also got them to be considered for one the local city’s “engineers on call” list which means that when the city needed work they would simply pick one of their already selected firms. With purchased business cards and sales booklets showing capabilities, culture, experience and industries serviced we would introduce the firm to other local warehouse operators and leave with them the booklets and cards. We would mention that we did work with another company near and stopped by to offer our services to them for future needs. We also introduced the company to general contractors, local small banks for homeowners who want to remodel, introduced the firm to project financing management teams (these are financiers that sponsor projects for an existing company as a sort of investment) as sponsors they get to control who builds, what costs are suitable, etc.. Getting in good terms with these groups helps a lot for larger projects. You can also become a member of a local chamber of commerce meeting/group, introduce yourself to prospect clients and offer certain amount of hours heavily discounted or free so that they can better take advantage of a retro-fit that needs to be done or mechanical upgrade, or addition.

Ok, so I'm not an expert in fashion but I know finance. Here is my take: These two would be considered "fast fashion" retailers or better yet, e-tailers. Fast fashion simply means that unlike Coach or American Eagle or Levis, these FF retailers don't have to try to predict fashion 6 months in advance risking a big flop and having to heavily discount items that don't sell. FF retailers simply 'scout' runway shows and buy wholesale from these designer labels. A lot of designers would like this because they are essentially getting a guaranteed sale plus added exposure. Another thing is that these FF retailers don't keep their inventory for months at a time, they do so in cycles of weeks. If a designer sells out, chances are they retailer will continue to come back for more designs from them. They are purchased wholesale, on cash basis account, payable on credit of 30 days or 90 days. The economics as you state it are a bit more complex that what I care to explain here, but essentially if you were to 'replicate & improve' what I would do is scout and offer purchase orders to designers, just like they do. First order completed as 50/50 paid in full/credit term payable 60 days or so (assuming you already have a store ready to move inventory and not waste those 60 days setting up). Aim to sell all inventory before 60 days and pay balance with revenues. Extend credit term to 90 days at increased inventory, aim to sell by 60 days and keep that cycle going. What this will allow you to do is to always have inventory being paid for by customers before they are due for you essentially having the clients pay for your expansion in inventory. The break even is simple, don't sell for less than what your wholesale amount is. Typical increase from wholesale commodity goods is 30%, try that margin. If you have to discount "heavily" at 15% or 25% you still get at least 5% safe margin

Instagram is my JAM-- it's a powerful platform in and of itself- understanding instagram places with be paramount to your success-- depending on the demographic of your audience you can really dial into competitors to build brand awareness... While working and in close connection with with brands such as @TVROPT, @CharlieByMZ, and Uniqlo... these brands heavily use influencer marketing. (for an amazing article on this concept https://blog.kissmetrics.com/guide-to-influencer-targeting/ ) You don't have to pay an arm and a leg for influencers-- and influencer don't have to have industry clout.. they could be the trendsetters of high school etc-- and their are ways of finding these local people on instagram. Let me know if you have any further questions after reading that article! :D

When it comes to unique strategies, you should think way outside the box and not be afraid of "risk." Working with other local small businesses can help with cross-promotion, but sometimes that's not enough. Here are some examples I just thought of off the top of my head: 1) Get in touch with any personal injury attorneys and ask for referrals. Give them 10-15% of each client they send your way. 2) Find any outdoor events in your area (ex. marathons, triathlons, mud runs, etc...) and set up a booth at the event. Give free massages and offer info to your potential clients. 3) Take advantage of social media. Search Twitter for people near you who are complaining about back pain. Tweet them and offer your services with a 10-20% discount for their first appointment. If you're interested we can set up a call and I can give you more strategic ideas once I learn more about your business and efforts up to this point. Hope this helped! -Matt

If you are offering advisory services only, you should propose a retainer structure, or a possible 50% retainer, 50% on milestones or completion. You could also do a monthly retainer based on the length of the project. If you are actually doing some type of implementation work, I would expect you could ask for a retainer/deposit and then bill the rest on time and materials. How does your industry typically structure deals? Will the customer focus on value-based billing or effort-based billing? Are you managing a team of people? What is your seniority and level of experience? Without knowing more about the project, your experience, or the nature of the work, it's hard to answer this question but I would be happy to chat further, having many years of experience building and operating a professional services firm. There are many options around pricing models - the best fit depends on the project and the customer (and you!). Feel free to reach out to me directly if you would like to discuss further.

No it is not. Unless you are a big name you place yourself next to strong competitors that are supported by big budgets. Start small with friends, friends of friends, get reviwes, create a blog become known and maybe spend some money with FB ads. If you have the budget print some copies and fight for your space with readers clubs etc. It is a tough business with a lot of competition and therefore you must work in order to be noticed .

It depends completely on the legal documents you both signed related to his investment in the company. Those documents will either provide for "information rights" or not. If the documents don't stipulate to these kinds of rights, you are not obliged to show the investor anything.

Well if you went the admitted route you would likely have to consider 50 varieties of your offering; one for each state. If you went the non-admitted route you could avoid most of this BUT sometimes the reputation of non-admitted is not as good since they do not fall under state guidelines. On the other hand, your company will fail if it does not take care of customers and pay claims so you should be able to avoid that problem.

If you don't have a license, you can't legally offer the file to download, unless it is shared with one of a select number of free licenses that don't require attribution. A "thanks" is no legal protection against DCMA takedown notices and RIAA or MPAA lawsuits. So in short: you need licenses.

If you mention what?

It depends by your company size and structure, but i think a CEO of a small company must understand what is pertinent to strategic decisions for his company. If you are thinking of changing the way you sell, it is better you understand why, which are the cost involved, benchmark your competition and see what they do. You need to have the situation in your hand in order to guide the decision process in the best way.

Can you promote without content? No. However it does not start with content either, it starts with 'strategy'. What exactly do you want to communicate, what you want your audience to expect in your blog, how you want to hook them, engage them, and participate in discussions. What are your strengths - webinars, ebooks, tutorials, reviews? 1. Prepare an inventory of what all you want to offer, and why. 2. Plan a calendar so that you can stick to a schedule. Remember that all blogs start at 'Hello World' and a many end at this post itself. 3. Plan how to reward your audience. 4. Now comes Content and Promotion strategy. If you want more details, write to me or setup a call anytime! :)

Great question, I have launched a few digital products and have helped others do the same. The steps can be as simple as: Setup a PayPal link and send it out to people or can involve complex applications. Without knowing the exact nature of the product or service in mind here are some general steps. 1. If you don't own your business domain and have a website up, that would be the first step. 2. There are several options for payment. If you have a digital product that will be delivered Gumroad has an excellent platform for selling digital items such as ebooks, videos, MP3. There is also selz.com which allows products as well as services. 3. Drive traffic to your page via social media or paid advertising. 4. As this is an existing product, you may have some ideas of where the market hangs out in terms of blogs, forums, chat rooms, etc.. Remember, if going into a group you want to offer value before trying to sell or it will likely backfire. I hope that helps with a bit of a framework. If you have further questions let me know or you can schedule a Clarity call with me to help plan this out in further detail. Rob

A great structure is having an internal champion present on each team, unit, office, etc. that can easily provide answers to benefit questions. This structure is particularly important if the company is spread across several locations without HR on the ground in each locale. On the more proactive side, having the champions provide information through rotating monthly topics in presentation, newsletter, or dropping into team meetings can be extremely effective. For example, a champion might put together a January newsletter for employees that will be utilizing parental leave detailing the process and what they need to know ahead of time. Training of champions can take place through HR or existing champions that know company policies, engagement can occur through project management and implementation, and empowerment through the respect and gratitude earned. Internal champions are often looked to for management positions following effective leadership and project execution.

Hi there, I'd recommend having a strong social media presence. You could use Knowem.com to check availability of social media channels and they will show you the top ones you need to be on. Today you should at least have an Instagram in addition to a Facebook Page and a dedicated Twitter account. I can explain how to set all of this up and how to easily manage it too.

Confluence by Atlassian has worked out great for me in the past. You can track changes, control rights to edit (and more) and take advantage of lots of features. It also integrates with other Atlassian tools. Let me know if you'd like further info or details on my past implementations.

At that pricing I would include in your advertising that the per month fee is only about the cost of a single cup of coffee. To make that clear, tell them that you'll in fact make their first month free by emailing them a starbucks coffee coupon when they sign up. That initiates your relationship with them as more of a 'social contract', rather than a business one, since you've given them a gift (make sure to include their first name in the starbucks coupon email), and their brain now associates the $5/month fee with just a single cup of coffee, which is money they basically throw away each day anyway. A social contract makes people more committed to your brand, and pay less attention to the cost and more to the relationship. With that said, once you start a social contract, you have to keep it up (keep interacting with them in a more buddy way, in terms of email wordings, things you may send them occasionally, etc), otherwise if you switch back to treating it more like a business contract again they will get pretty offended / pissed. If you want more advice on this let me know.

Hey, Aayush; I launched a marketing consulting business in 2008 and ended up teaching marketing strategy to companies like Disney, Cox Communications, and more before the recession hit in 2010 and forced a change in career. Let me share what I learned then with you. The easiest way to do this is to find a niche that you may feel is poorly represented and start buying clicks. Maybe you want to pr motor yourself on Facebook to game developers or target a list of 5,000 self-published authors on Twitter. Find the market you wish to enter and figure out how to reach them. Build content that's laser targeted to that market. Optimize your landing pages, do all the smart marketing tactics that you should have learned by now and you should be able to gain some traction. That will take a decent amount of money, but you're generally better off burning money instead of time if you have a successful business. The exchange rate between USD and rupee may hurt too much to do that, though. The alternative is to take time instead of money. Find those same audience members who you want to do marketing for online. They have hangouts somewhere: Google Plus or LinkedIn Groups or even dusty old phpbb forums. Spend a few weeks just listening. See what they need. Start offering some free advice and see how they react. Once you understand what they need and how you can economically provide it, build your landing pages and then go back to your new friends and start asking them to spread the word. Treat those first few clients like kings, because their recommendations can make all the difference between winning over your new market or struggling futilely. For as long as you can afford to, plow all of the profits from your new market into growing that market. Eventually, after a year or three, you'll look around and realize that all the hard work has paid off in success. And then it's time to add another new market and start again. 😊

The leading players are Zendesk, GrooveHQ, and FreshDesk. I have used all of these and my vote goes to Zendesk. I talked about it as a case study for a documentation task, see http://www.vinishgarg.com/2014/09/kb-case-study-pain-points-and-analysis/. I am also co-founder of @In23Hours where we develop product KBs in Zendesk. If you have any specific questions or doubts, setup a call and I can explain everything that you may need to know.

What you've already done is a great first step. Here are two additional ways you can improve conversion: A) Right now you have two options - Free - $ + pro features To get more people to select option two, you can add a third option. This third option is a 'dummy option', you won't be expecting many or any people to actually choose it. It's just there to make use of a known way in which the human brain makes decisions. The third option should cost more than [option 2], maybe 1.5X the cost. The third option should be [option 2]+anything you can think of that could possibly add any amount of value. For instance, maybe it's access to a special "pro-user FAQ", I don't know exactly what your services are so you'll obviously know better. When this third option is present users will see the middle option [option 2] as a good deal, or at least a better deal than they had previously seen it as. This will lead to higher conversion. B) This method is pretty commonly known and used, but maybe you haven't implemented it yet. Studies have repeatedly shown that the human mind is more inclined to fear loss than to the seek gain. So make the pro version of all your services available for free for one month. This will accomplish two things. - Once they have signed up for free, they will have a lower likelihood of canceling than the initial likelihood of them signing up. - In this process you will be collecting a ton of data on what your users want / don't want. Only notify existing users about this free offer through email (do not advertise it on the site), and mention in the email that it's because they've already given you something, and they're already committed to you to some extent ("we love how you have been using our products", or "because you've such a great user for such a long time"). To use the pro version users will have to give you credit info, and start billing them if they don't cancel within a month. Make sure that if they cancel you have a question about why they are canceling. It may be because 1) they don't want to pay that much, 2) you're missing things that people want ("I wish you had this feature"), or 3) you have some things that people don't want ("there's a bug when I do this"). If it's #1, then you can start advertising to a new user base, or make your prices cheaper, and if it's #2 or #3 you can have your devs fix things. _Only_ notify the users that are not currently paid subscribers (if send the email to paid subscribers too they will be pissed that they aren't getting a free month too). Still though, there is a danger that your existing paid customers might find out. So to avoid potentially pissing them off, you can send each of them and email offer to use a service that they are not currently paying for free for a month. C) If you want to go more in depth into these methods and additional methods we can talk about it,

My company just went through this. There are several ways you can approach the problem: 1. Find a mentor. Who's the biggest kahuna in your space? Reach out to him or to her. Don't ask for money or intros to VCs. Just pose a good question and start a conversation. Experts love to be heard (how else does Clarity work? :). Use that. If you're interesting and you have a great product, they'll approach you about finding. 2. Attend (and win) some pitch competitions like TC Disrupt. This is a toughie, but if you can cut it there, you can cut it anywhere. Note that good pitches do not necessarily convert to good product (hello, "Yo."). Even if you don't win, some VCs will see you and may approach. 3. Get into an incubator. Y combinator, hub:raum, Wearable World, and do on are all designed to teach you what you need to know to make your next round a success. Find one in the US and get going. Yes, it will cost you a little equity, but it may be worth it in networking and preparation for pitching the US VC market. 3. Pitch somewhere else. Why focus on the US? The VC market there is going to be bone dry in 2016. If you can secure money from anywhere (and you need it) I'd suggest you go and take it now. If you need to raise a round in Q2 2016, good luck to you, because you have a tough row to hoe. 4. PR. If you do an excellent job with PR--especially PR aimed at securing a new investor--you can make good headway in the US. But that will run you ~50k USD to raise 3+ MM USD if you're lucky. Performance can vary wildly. 5. Networking. Hit up the speaking and trade show circuit for your industry and shake enough hands, you'll eventually find a VC. But it's hard going and also super expensive if you're not a US company to travel that much to the US. Hope one or more of these helped. Let me know if you have any follow up questions about, for example, pitching. Which is a whole 'nother ball game. 😊

That varies wildly based on sales cycle and product complexity. An easy rule: sales staff should be as much as you can hire and keep costs under revenue. Support should be enough that customer response times are never over 24 hours. If it's taking longer, hire more support if you can afford to. If you can't afford to, you probably need to simplify your product or else improve your sales processes. 😊