What Travel Agents Need to Know About Corporate Travel Today

This is rightly named as the age of traveler-centricity and with the evolution of the new era of personalized travel; it is leading to research and development of a host of new so-called intelligent services. The command-and-control perspectives of traveling have changed a lot from the past and the focus has shifted more on the traveler and the productivity of each trip. It has become essential to maintain that the travelers have the greatest return on investment on each trip. New generations of young employees and managers, who have been growing up and dwelling in a digital age, are moving up the ranks as travelers. It has become essential to recognize the need for greater flexibility acknowledging that the employees who travel on corporate trips also consider a percentage of their trip to be a leisure outlet. With increasing globalization and rise in companies sending their staff overseas to network and connect with their offshore prospects/customers/suppliers, corporate travel is a highly profitable tourism segment. Before we talk about how tourism companies can better cater to business travelers, let us first look at why they prefer to use specialized corporate agencies over traditional agents

Why do businesses use Corporate Travel Agencies?

This might be the most basic question for a travel agency as to why they need to use agencies specializing in corporate travel when there are plenty of regular travel agents in the market. Here is the importance of corporate travel agencies who have online systems which allow business travelers access to their complete itinerary.

The following information is at the fingertips of the CTAs:-

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  full business itinerary details














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  up-to-date tracking details of flights (including delays or rescheduling)














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  transparent details about additional costs such as baggage fees or in-flight fees














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  travel alerts, if any, in the destined area














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  complete and up-to-date details about the visa procurement policies and identification required














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  currency requirement and conversion rates

What do corporate clients expect from Corporate Travel Agencies?

Negotiated Fares

The Corporate Agencies tend to have tie-ups with hotels, car rentals, flights etc. giving them access to lower fares which can be used only by the frequent business travelers. Discounted prices are not the only advantage though as they also offer flight upgrades, room upgrades, and VIP check-in lines as required.

In-depth information about the travel industry

Corporate travel agents have access to many travel resources and most importantly, quickly, than any other leisure travel agent. Additional information helps to make the business trips convenient and comfortable.

Changes in Itinerary

When an airline ticket needs to get rescheduled or cancelled, chances are the airline or the online service provider will charge lofty fees. When booking with a corporate travel agent, most of the times schedule changes can be done at zero or minimal extra charges.

Viable emergency contacts

It is important for the business travelers to reach the correct person at the need of trouble. Corporate travel agents have the experience and professionalism to relieve stress for both the traveler and the company.

What you need to consider as corporate travel increases?

Business Travel Barometer reported that corporate travel is witnessing an accelerated growth. However, when poorly managed, it may be no longer an advantage to companies and may, in fact become a burden. There are some factors which the corporations and CTAs must consider to get the best out of the time spent traveling.

Adopting a travel policy

The corporate must define a travel policy which is applicable to and respected by travelers at all levels. This policy should be used to establish the standards which will help to track the improvement of business travel. It will eventually help to reduce the costs of the entire package.

Do not limit the traveler's autonomy

The management is responsible for budgeting the travel policy which helps to improve cost management however, it is also essential to give a degree of autonomy to the traveler. The policy should be flexible enough to allow the employee to adapt the trip as per the situation.

Traveler's security should be a major concern

Business travelers need to have security in place. The company needs to stick to its definition of standards to ensure the employee's integrity. The CTAs should have reliable partners (travel insurance, airlines, hotel chains etc.).

Mobility and automation

To optimize time and ease the processes, the administration of management platforms should have automated processes. This means they should adopt mobile solutions where search options, travel alerts, ticket reservations etc. can be accessed quickly, easily and on the go.

Corporate Travel Trends in 2016

Corporate travel trends tend to change regularly. 2016 has also not been any different and the travel management companies (TMCs) and corporate travel agencies (CTAs) are quite focused to provide steady if not strong axis all over. A growing MICE sector, investments in mobile and big data and enhanced focus on duty of care are some of their areas of focus.

Rising prices

The consolidated buzzword among global suppliers, airfares, hotel rates etc. is the rising fares. It is sometimes the move of the suppliers to generate discounts which encourage travel if there is a strong decline in demand. A positive 2016 world economy has been bringing an increase in air fares of a few percentage points, hotels are expected to see 4%-6% rise in average global rates and the competition will remain moderate in the car rental services.

Duty of care

Risk management is one of the major points of emphasis for corporations. Corporate customers are allowing new policies and improved technologies to monitor employees' location in case of an emergency, especially when they are travelling to foreign destinations. For instance, Concur Risk Messaging helps to identify the travelers moving around in the world and alerts them with alternate travel arrangement as and when needed.

Focusing on MICE

Meetings industry is a major growing sector and the corporate travel trend is developing on it. The corporate travel agencies should better start aligning the various meeting procurement methodologies with its transient travel sourcing. One of the ways could be to broaden the variety of meeting services by incorporating incentive trips within it.

Investing in technology

A sharper focus on increasing value and becoming more traveler-centric can be done by bringing in mobile friendly technologies. Mobile and big data are definitely the two most significant technological investments which any corporate travel agency must focus to make their platform more appealing.

Business travel analysis after Brexit

Following Brexit, ACTE and CAPA shared their speculations. According to them, the greatest short-term effects on the travel industry will come from the weakening of the pound against other world currencies. Greeley Koch, executive director for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives said that the business travel industry will trend on currency fluctuations; with some companies taking advantage of the weaker pound and traveling more, while others may withhold business travel until world markets find their own level.

Impact of terrorism on corporate travelers

Travel policy makers and administrators need to be guided by rising terrorism scare. For executives and staff undertaking travel on behalf of businesses, the travel agents and corporate travel agencies (CTAs) should prove the reassurance for their safety through the travel policies. It is more than likely that the surveys conducted over corporate travelers reflect the general concern of the global business travelers about the spate of terrorism. However, there is no denying the fact that terrorist threat is changing the patterns of business travel. The key impact of this is to keep in mind that the companies providing travel services for business travelers need to enhance their focus on security and the associated risks in delivering the services to corporate clients. According to a recent finding, travel managers have higher estimation of their policy's effectiveness in addressing risk compared to skeptical business travelers.

Concluding

Although the corporate travel sector has continued to progress, there are a plethora of challenges faced by the industry. A rapidly changing consumer market, the emergence of new business models, the impact of technology, man-made and natural crises are some of the fulcrum points that need to be considered before planning corporate trips.

5 Ways Blockchain Will Transform the Life of a Common Man

With all of the media set ablaze with news of prices of cryptocurrencies, you may wonder how it affects a common man. Right at the heart of cryptocurrency and other digital currencies is Blockchain technology.

There are various industrial and administrative problems that the technology can solve for the common man. Do you own a small business but often feel transparency is lacking because of traditional methods of communication? Have you ever ended up with higher than usual medical bills? As a business owner, is finding legitimate candidates a hassle for you? These problems affect entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses, individuals and Blockchain technology seeks to provide solutions to make the life of a common man much simpler through simplified solutions.

Banking

Banking in almost all countries is still very focused on paper-intensive transactions for any money transfer, recordkeeping or other back-end functions. Blockchain technology can replicate this in a digital format and create a decentralized ledger that allows not only the bankers but also the customers to access a single source of information. This system allows banks to eliminate chances of fraud as documentation and proof of ownership of assets can be checked digitally by bankers in the Blockchain ledger which can be accessed at any time in an unalterable format.

Identity theft is also a major problem in the banking sector, with citizens' information being stolen and used to open fraudulent accounts for illegal activities. According to the Federal Trade Commission's online database of complaints, there have been over 13 million complaints filed for card fraud and identity theft with 3 million of these complaints being filed in 2016 alone. Through a blockchain system, customers can directly view all accounts owned under their name and immediately notify their respective banks in case they spot any suspicious activity in their banking details. Some of the known examples include IBM-backed Hyperledger Fabric project and the Utility Settlement Coin by UBS.

Healthcare

Blockchain technology can simplify healthcare in incredible ways and make medical data management much simpler. Making patient records widely accessible can allow research on drug development much more convenient, and it also reduces the implications of counterfeit drugs. Clinical trials and their outcomes can be made available in a decentralized network, allowing healthcare specialists and researchers to conduct research and find solutions to better healthcare. Accenture is one of the biggest companies that have started offering innovative healthcare solutions for the medical care sector for secure and fraud-free transactions.

Medicare frauds can also be brought down through blockchain billing management as the billing system can be fully automated without any scope of intermediaries committing fraudulent activities. With over 56 million people under Medicare as of 2017, over $1.3 billion has been ripped off the government through fraudulent activities by rehabilitation facilities and home health care services. Blockchain systems can effectively safeguard citizens who seek medical assistance from healthcare providers that overcharge for services offered through fraudulent billing practices. The centralized data not only help medical professionals in offering treatment based on the history of the patient and his/her family but it also eliminates the chances of a patient incorrectly recollecting past symptoms or disorders.

Public Records

One of the most important civic administration functions of a government is to record all information about its citizens. This includes information about individuals and businesses with regards to their assets and activities. Most of the recorded information is recorded in paper databases, making data management extremely difficult even in developed countries.

Blockchain-based systems like Ubitiquity can encode all public records in a digital ledger to keep the data on citizens from being altered for fraudulent activities. Identity theft is a problem that can be very difficult to deal with for the administration and digitizing all public information to make it tamper-proof can help prevent such instances of criminal activity.

Voting

One of the biggest limitations of the voting system in almost every country is that even today, voters need to be physically present at polling booths to cast their votes and can make things difficult for people who need to travel on poll days. More importantly, there are no means of verifying the poll results for the average citizen.

Blockchain development companies like Followmyvote are coming up with solutions that seek to make online voting a reality. It will allow citizens to view accurate information on poll standings and results and various other statistics publicly. It also leads to safer voting for citizens of countries in internal or external conflict and criminal activities to coerce citizens into voting for specific candidates can be completely avoided.

Business Hiring

Businesses of all sizes have a hard time finding the right staff. Through blockchain technology, it is possible for businesses to verify credentials of all applicants through a digital database. Blockchain technology can be applied to create a decentralized database of professionals with verified qualifications in a secure ledger that businesses can refer to for hiring candidates. Learning Machine is a New-York based company that seeks to address this problem that focuses on recording verifiable information on workers.

Tax or employment-related frauds make up 34% of all identity theft as of 2016, and a blockchain system makes the hiring process for any business much more secure as a company would have access to valid candidates only, reducing the risk of hiring fraudulent employees. It also helps applicants by speeding up the hiring process and helping them to find jobs they are eligible for and have a hassle-free application process.

Use of blockchain technologies helps individuals and businesses alike, and it also protects personal information while making important data publicly visible. While blockchain has the best application in cryptocurrency, its use can spread to other sectors as well to provide meaningful solutions to citizens around the world.

Dangers Of Lacking Financial Education And Giving Value To Others

In this article, I am going to talk about the dangers of lacking financial and values education which are just as important as our school education which mainly and still focuses on theory and academic score having read and understood the books by Robert Kiyosaki like Rich Dad Poor Dad as well as watching all videos of Eben Pagan on what it takes to succeed in business, relationships, wealth and improving all areas of life as his subscriber and customer which are in contrary to what we have been taught and conditioned to think and do by our parents, grandparents and teachers.

Truth being said, most of us only think of making money for ourselves, families and loved ones if we are married and have kids without understanding that in order to make money, we need to give and deliver value to others which is just as important. That also ties in with what Zig Ziglar said that you can have everything you want in life if you give enough people what they want in life. The only knowledge we have is that we have to study hard to get good grades and qualification so that we can get great jobs with high pay in order to have our homes, marry, retire, and live happily ever after. While our parents - especially those from low and middle-income families - told us this out of concern, this sort of mentality is sadly outdated in the current 21st century. And even more so with digital technology looking to shape and change the way we live, study and work.

A rich parent - for instance the current US President Trump - will never tell his children that. Sure at first glance, they will tell their children to respect others in public and tell them off if they are disobedient and do not behave. But behind closed doors of their homes only known to family members and maid serving them, they will share with them other things that poor and average parents will never share with their kids.

Which is while making and saving money are important, delivering value and smart investing to maximize it are just as important.

According to Eben Pagan in his YouTube videos, he said after years of studying about business and wealth, he learnt two critical things. One is that people do not like to give away their hard-earned money without getting any value in return. When I say value, I am not talking about anything that sales and marketing people offered them. But what people really need and want for themselves and loved ones. Second is that money has a hole in its bucket and unless you know how to earn, you will lose every dollar you spent never mind on what things.

Here is another truth of life which I discovered after my very own study and research on other articles and blog posts besides reading and watching videos by those gurus. That is money is never given or distributed evenly all the time. It is only for those who delivered the most value as in helping and making a difference to others' lives as well as those that others feel closest to. Even if it is otherwise, most people will squander on things they like short-term but are not essential long-term. Especially luxury items such as cars, condos, gadgets and jewellery to name a few. And when they spend all their hard-earned money with little or no savings, they will usually resort to those things.

1. Taking on 1 to 2 part-time jobs on top of their main one just to be able to cope with the daily expenses and support their family.

2. Borrowing from families and friends,

3. Asking for loans from creditors, loan sharks and banks,

4. Applying for credit cards,

5. Gambling in casinos, lottery and sports betting

While there is nothing wrong with the first though it might put additional stress on individuals' health and well-being, there is everything wrong with the other four which I myself was guilty of in the second and fourth.

Because every time you borrowed, you needed to pay back as we Asians have a very strong ethnic and principle on it. If they are not carefully abided by, tragedies may occur. Not just on individuals who cannot pay back and lose everything but their families as in their parents, parents-in-laws, spouse and children as well.

And the saddest truth is when the family is poor, the spouse have to work or take extra job as well to bear the costs and the children will have to give up their passion, interest and even studies just to work early to copy with the family burden costs.

For the rich, it is another story. Suppose if one or both your parents are running the company as bosses or CEOs, you will be required to help them out upon completing your studies.

Otherwise they will be judged as "selfish and unfilial who only think of themselves, inconsiderate and uncaring about their families' well-being."

That is if they want to pursue their ambitions, interests and passions they once have as children but are dismissed by most parents as naive child words, play and who are just asking them what they like to be when they grow up simply to make fun of them.

It may sound weird to you but that is the situation in my country Singapore.

Which explains why most people are conditioned to study hard, work hard, save hard and retire comfortably with just one working job income they see as honest earnings.

Any income incurred outside are dismissed by baby boomers in particular - as fraud from cheating other people of their hard-earned money which is partially true with some entrepreneurs but it is wrong to dismiss every business owner because of a few rotten eggs.

Given the fact that government supports them because they are our pioneers, very little room is given for youth development not just in terms of creativity and innovation but in terms of money and wealth management be it creation, multiplication and preservation.

The only things they know are saving, working and borrowing money as well as buying insurance policies from financial advisors who may or may not be acting in the interest of their clients.

Hence their ignorance, overspending and not earning enough leads them to be over-dependence on government to the extent of asking more and blaming the government when things are not going the way they expected and wanted. That will cause serious implications on our economy and society well-being in general be it relationships and the daily essentials of life we, our families and future generations need.

I don't mean to sound arrogant but if I am in the shoes of Minister for Education, I will make financial education compulsory as one of the main subjects. Especially when it comes to generating, growing and saving money while still acting in the interest of others as in giving value.

Which most people need to know but in actual truth, they don't which is absolutely critical.

Except for a selected few.

Like Warren Buffet, Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki and Eben Pagan I earlier mentioned.

Be All That You Can Be: The Company Persona and Language Alignment

It's not just CEOs and corporate spokespeople who need effective language to be the message. The most successful advertising taglines are not seen as slogans for a product. They are the product. From M & M's "melts in your mouth, not in your hand" to "Please do not squeeze the Charmin" bathroom tissue, from the "plop, plop, fizz, fizz" of Alka-Seltzer to "Fly the friendly skies of United, "There is no light space between the product and its marketing. Words that work reflect "not only the soul of the brand, but the company itself and its reason for being in business," according to Publicis worldwide executive director director David Droga.

In the same vein, advertising experts identify a common quality among the most popular and long-lasting corporate icons: Rather than selling for their companies, these characters personify them. Ronald McDonald, the Marlboro Man, Betty Crocker, the Energizer Bunny - they are not shills trying to talk us into buying a Big Mac, a pack of smokers, a box of cake mix, a package of batteries; they do not even personalize the product. Just like the most celebrated logos, they are the product.

Walk through any bookstore and you'll find dozens of books about the marketing and branding efforts of corporate America. The process of corporate communication has been thinly sliced ​​and diced over and over, but what you will not find is a book about the one really essential characteristic in our twenty-first-century world: the company persona and how words that work are used to create and sustain it.

The company persona is the sum of the corporate leadership, the corporate ethos, the products and services offered, interaction with the customer, and, most importantly, the language that ties it all together. A majority of large companies do not have a company persona, but those that do benefit significantly. Ben & Jerry's associates in part because of the funky names that theyave to the conventional (and unconventional) flavors they offer, but the positive relationship between corporate management and their employees also plays a role, even after Ben and Jerry sold the company. McDonald's in the 1970s and Starbucks over the past decade became an integral part of the American culture as much for the lifestyle that they reflected as the food and beverages they offered, but the in-store lexicon helped by setting them apart from their competition. (Did any customers ever call the person who served them a cup of coffee a "barista" before Starbucks made the term popular?) Language is never the sole determinant in creating a company persona, but you'll find words that work associated with all companies that have one.

And when the message, messenger, and recipient are all on the same page, I call this rare phenomenon "language alignment," and it happens far less frequently than you might expect. In fact, all of the companies that have hired my firm for communication guidance have found themselves linguistically unaligned.

This manifests itself in two ways. First, in service-oriented businesses, the sales force is too often selling with a different language than the marketing people are using. There's nothing wrong with individualizing the sales approach to each customer, but when you have your sales force promoting a message that has no similarity with the advertising campaign, it undermines both efforts. The language in the ads and promotions must match the language on the street, in the shop, and on the floor. For example, Boost Mobile, which caters to an inner city youth demographic, uses the slogan "Where you at?" Not grammatically (or politically) correct - but it's the language of their consumer.

And second, corporations with multiple products in the same space too often allow the language of those products to blur and bleed into each other. Procter & Gamble may sell a hundred different items, but even though each one fills a different need, a different space, and / or a different category, it is perfectly fine for them to share similar language. You can use some of the same verbiage to sell soap as you would to sell towels, because no consumer will confuse the products and what they do.

Not so for a company that is in a single line of work, say selling cars or selling beer, where companies use the exact same adjectives to describe very different products. In this instance, achieving linguistic alignment requires a much more disciplined linguistic segmentation. It is almost always a more effective sales strategy to divvy up the appropriate adjectives and create a unique lexicon for each individual brand.

An example of a major corporation that has betrayed both of these challenges and still managed to achieve linguistic alignment, even as they are laying off thousands of workers, is the Ford Motor Company - which manages a surprisingly diverse group of brands ranging from Mazda to Aston Martin. The Ford corporate leadership recognized that it was impossible to separate the Ford name, corporate history, heritage, and range of vehicles - so why bother. They came as a package. Sure, Ford serves an individual brand identity, through national and local ad campaigns and by creating and maintaining a separate image and language for each brand. For example, "exceptionally sensual styling" certainly applies when one is talking about a Jaguar S Type, but would probably not be pertinent for a Ford F 250 pickup truck. But the fact that the CEO carries the Ford name communicates continuity to the company's customers, and Bill Ford sitting in front of an assembly line talking about leadership and innovation in all of Ford's vehicles effectively puts all the individual brands into alignment.

The words he uses - "innovation," "driven," "re-committed," "dramatically," "dedicated" - represent the simplicity and brevity of effective communications, and they are wrapped around the CEO who is the fourth- generation Ford to lead the company - hence credibility. The cars are the message, Bill Ford is the messenger, the language is dead-on, and Ford is weathering the American automotive crisis far better than its larger rival General Motors. Again, the language of Ford is not the only driver of corporate image and sales - but it certainly is a factor.

In fact, the brand-building campaign was so successful that GM jumped on board. But Ford quickly took it a step further. In early 2006, they began to leverage their ownership of Volvo (I wonder how many readers did not know that Ford bought Volvo in 1999 and purchased Jaguar a decade earlier) to communicate a corporate-wide commitment to automated safety, across all of its individual brands and vehicles. Volvo is one of the most respected cars on the road today, and aligning all of Ford behind an industry leader is a very smart strategy indeed.

So what about the competition?

General Motors, once the automotive powerhouse of the world, has an equally diverse product line and arguably a richer history of technology and innovation, but their public message of cutbacks, buy-backs, and layoffs was designed to appeal to Wall Street, not Main Street, and it crushed new car sales. At the time of this writing, GM is suffering through record losses, record job layoffs, and a record number of bad stories about its failing marketing efforts.

It did not have to be this way.

The actual attributes of many of the GM product lines are more appealing than the competition, but the product image itself is not. To own a GM car is to tell the world that you're so 1970s, and since what you drive is considered an extension and expression of yourself to others, people end up buying cars they actually like less because they feel the cars will say something more about them.

Think about it. Here's a company that was the first to develop a catalytic converter, the first to develop an advanced anti-tipping stabilization technology, the first to develop engines that could use all sorts of blended gasolines, and most importantly in today's market, the creator of OnStar - an incredible new-age computerized safety and tracking device. Yet most American consumers have no idea that any of these valuable innovations came from General Motors, simply because GM decided not to tell them. So instead of using its latest and greatest emerging technology to align itself with its customers, GM finds itself in a deteriorating dialogue with shareholders. No alignment = no sales.

Another problem with GM: No one knew that the various brands under the GM moniker were in fact. . . GM. Even such well-known brands as Corvette and Cadillac had become disconnected from the parent company. Worse yet, all the different brands (with the exception of Hummer, which could not get lost in a crowd even if the brand manager wanted it to) were using similar language, similar visuals, and a similar message - blurring the distinction between brands and turning GM vehicles into nothing more than generic American cars. Repeated marketing failures were just part of GM's recurring problems, but as that issue was completely within their control, it should have been the easiest to address.

When products, services, and language are aligned, they gain another essential attribute: authenticity. In my own market research for dozens of Fortune 500 companies, I have found that the best way to communicate authenticity is to trigger personalization: Do audience members see themselves in the slogan. . . and therefore in the product? Unfortunately, achieving personalization is by no means easy.

To illustrate how companies and brands in a competitive space create compelling personas for them while addressing the needs of different consumer groups, let's take a look at cereals. Anyone can go out and buy a box of cereal. But different cereals offer different experiences. Watch and listen carefully to their marketing approach and the words they use.

Most cereals geared towards children sell energy, excitement, adventure, and the potential for fun - even more than the actual taste of the sugar-coated rice or wheat puffs in the cardboard box. On the other hand, cereal aimed at grown-ups is sold based on its utility to the maintenance and enhancement of health - with taste once again secondary.

Children's cereals are pitched by nonthreatening cartoon characters - tigers, parrots, chocolate-loving vampires, Cap'ns, and a tiny trio in stocking caps - never an adult or authority figure. Adult cereals come at you head-on with a not-so-subtle Food Police message, wrapped in saccharine-sweet smiles, exclaiming that this cereal is a favorite of healthy and cholesterol-conscious adults who do not want to get colon cancer! Ugghhh. Kids buy Frosted Flakes because "They're grrrreat!" Adults buy Special K because we want to be as attractive and generous as the actors who promote it. When it comes to cereal, about the only thing parents and kids have in common is that the taste matters only slightly more than the image, experience, and product association - and if the communication appears authentic, they'll buy.

And cereal certainly sells. From Cheerios to Cinnamon Toast Crunch, more than $ 6 billion worth of cold cereal was sold in the United States alone in 2005. If you were to look at the five top-selling brands, you would see a diverse list targeted to a variety set of customers. The language used for each of these five brands is noticeably different, but in all cases totally essential.

In looking at the first and third best-selling brands of cereal, one might initially think that only a slight variation in ingredients mark their distinctions. Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios are both based around the same whole-grain O shaped cereal, but are in fact two very different products, beyond the addition of honey and a nut-like crunch.

The language behind Cheerios is remarkably simple and all-encompassing - "The one and only Cheerios." Could be for kids. . . could be for young adults. . . could be for parents. Actually, Cheerios wants to sell to all of them. As its Web site states, Cheerios is the right cereal for "toddlers to adults and everyone in between." The mixture heart-shaped bowl on each box suggests to the older consumer that the "whole-grain" cereal is a healthy start to a healthy day. But the web site also has a section devotedly to younger adults, complete with testimonials and "tips from new parents" talking about how Cheerios has helped them to raise happy, healthy children. The language behind Cheerios works because it transcends the traditional societal boundaries of age and adds a sense of authenticity to the product.

While you could probably live a happy and healthy existence with Cheerios as your sole cereal choice, there is a fundamental segment of the cereal market that demands more. For the cereal-consuming public roughly between the ages of four and fourteen, a different taste and linguistic approach is required. Buzz the Bee, the kid-friendly mascot of Honey Nut Cheerios, pitches the "irresistible taste of golden honey," selling the sweetness of the product to a demographic that craves sweet foods. While the parent knows that his or her child desires the cereal because of its sweet taste (as conveyed through the packaging), Honey Nut Cheerios must still pass the parent test. By putting such statements as "whole-grain" and "13 essential vitamins and minerals" on the box, the product gains authenticity, credibility, and the approval of the parent.

Two different messages on one common box effectively markets the same product to both children and parents alike, helping to make Honey Nut Cheerios the number three top-selling Cereal in 2004. So with the addition of honey and nuts, General Mills, the producer of the Cheerios line, has filled the gap between toddlers and young adults, and completed the Cheerios cradle-to-grave lifetime hold on the consumer.

To take another example, if you want people to think you're hip and healthy, you make sure they see drinking bottled water - and the fancier the better. No one walking around with a diet Dr Pepper in hand is looking to impress anyone. These days, there's almost a feeling that soft drinks are exclusively for kids and the uneducated masses. There's a cache to the consumption of water, and expensive and exclusive brands are all the rage. Now, there may be a few people who have such extremely refined, educated taste buds that they can taste the difference between Dasani and Aquafina (I certainly can not), but the connoisseurs of modish waters are more likely than not posers (or, to continue the snobbery theme, poseurs). You will not see many people walking around Cincinnati or Syracuse clutching fancy bottled water. Hollywood, South Beach, and the Upper East Side of New York City are, as usual, another story.

There's one final aspect of being the message that affects what we hear and how we hear it. How our language is delivered can be as important as the words themselves, and no one understands this principle better than Hollywood.

At a small table tucked away in the corner of a boutique Italian restaurant on the outskirts of Beverly Hills, I had the opportunity to dine with legendary actors Charles Durning, Jack Klugman, and Dom DeLuise. The entire dinner was a litany of stories of actors, writers, and the most memorable movie lines ever delivered. (Says Klugman, an Emmy Award winner, "A great line is not spoken, it is delivered.") Best known for his roles in The Odd Couple and Quincy, Klugman told a story about how Spencer Tracy was practicing his lines for a movie late in his career in the presence of the film's screenwriter. Notably pleased with the reading, the writer said to Tracy, "Would you please pay more attention to how you are reading that line? It took me six months to write it," to which Tracy shot back, "It took me thirty years to learn how to say Correctly the line that took you only six months to write. "

Spencer Tracy knew how to be the message - and his shelf of Academy Awards proved it.

Excerpted from WORDS THAT WORK by Dr. Frank Luntz. Copyright 2007 Dr. Frank Luntz. All rights reserved. Published by Hyperion. Available where books are sold.

AdSense Money Making Tutorial

How does anyone make money with AdSense?

1. Keyword optimization
2. Content
3. Promotion
4. Commitment
5. Dedication
6. Consistency

If you're going to add AdSense marketing to your Internet Business Empire you need relevant content and lots of it. Making a killing with AdSense also takes research. Let's face it, you can have a site with thousands of content rich pages but if content is of no interest to anyone online then your website traffic will reflect that. Do not set your goals too high in a low to no traffic market. Patience is an helpful attribute to have but it is contingent upon other exercises that are already in place like consistency and dedication. If your consistently researching, promoting and adding the best possible content to your website then and only then will patience be relevant to your earnings. Search engines and RSS feeds like new content and so do visitors. Your market may not show up the first, second or third time they see your ad, link or post but the more they see it more than probably they will click on it.

Once your market knows you're committed to giving them the best most relevant information possible they will show up, bookmark your site, tell their friends and absolutely click on some of the relevant ads on your website. You will have to continue to add new content to your website and appropriately place your keywords through in order for Google AdSense to know exactly what your webpage is about. Without this basic step you will fail to receive relevant ads on your webpages. With search engine optimization being the focal point of AdSense it is hard to ignore the fact that you need to use every management tool Google has to offer. If you ask 10 different marketers how much and how often you should add new content to your website you will get 6 varying answers but on average the answer will be once a week.

Tests have shown that submitting content to your website daily (not your blog) has in some cases gotten websites removed from the Google index. Unfortunately its an algorithm that makes this decision and you can appeal it. I add new content twice a week and I've not been removed from any index. If search engines are not your main traffic generator you need not worry. Before you start an AdSense marketing campaign be sure to have a solid plan with realistic expectations.

Review - Enjoy Your Money!

Enjoy Your Money! How to Make It, Save It, Invest It and Give It, J. Steve Miller, 2009, ISBN 098187567x

There are a seemingly infinite number of personal finance books available in bookstores. This one is intended for people in their teens and twenties which financial plans start and end with "become a millionaire."

Akashi, Antonio, James and Amy are your average high school students in detention, again. They meet with Mrs. Kramer, an eccentric, elderly teacher at the school, who teaches a course on money management. Every Saturday, they meet at a local fast food joint, where Mrs.. Kramer takes the four into the world of money.

Have an emergency fund, equivalent to three or four months salary, in a savings account or money market account, accessible if needed. Pay off your debt as soon as possible, whether it is credit card debt, student loans or car payments. When you get some money in your pocket, it is tempting to buy a big-screen TV or fancy new clothes. Do not do it; live benefit your means; cut your expenses as much as possible. Is it more important that others think you are a rich person, or that you actually are a rich person?

It's also tempting to buy and sell stocks on a short-term basis, looking for a quick profit. Again, do not do it. Every time you buy or sell stock, your stockbroker makes money, not you. Research good quality, no fee mutual funds (especially index funds) that you can invest in for the long haul. Just because a fund had a good year last year, it does not mean they will have a good year this year.

A popular way to make money is by buying houses and "flipping" them. If that is not for you, and if you know the right people, think about "flipping" cars or motorcycles. People will always need decent, reliable transportation. The book also looks at buying a car (consult Consumer Reports and choose quality over flashy), insurance, knowing your way around a supermarket, investing in real estate, getting a job and keeping it.

This book is a goldmine of information. Written as a dialogue, this is very easy to follow for the person who does not want to read another "money literacy" book. This is highly recommended for every teenager and twentysomething who thinks that a million dollars will suddenly show up in their mailbox.