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If you’re a tech marketer, you’re already aware of the particularly difficult challenges you face. Sure, all marketers have difficult challenges, but the ever-changing tech world introduces new complexity to the marketing mix. After all, the technology industry is growing and changing so fast that no one can possibly keep up. No one, of course, except for the tech marketer, who is not only charged with keeping up, but also staying one step ahead of the marketplace.LinkedIn recently published an article discussing some of the top challenges experienced by tech marketers today. Here are two of those challenges, along with actionable information you can use to start overcoming them now.Challenge #1: Identifying the decision maker?All marketers know how important it is to identify and understand the decision maker. Without this knowledge, it’s difficult to build a successful marketing strategy to win them over.The difficulty with tech marketing, though, is that the decision maker isn’t a single person. Instead, it’s now a cross-functional group comprised of IT, Marketing, Sales, Operations, Finance and more.This complexity makes it all the more important to fully understand the needs, challenges and motivations of each group member and appeal to them directly.A recent LinkedIn study of groups that hold decision-making power over IT and technology purchases discovered that nurturing prospects with informative content is a vital part of the sales process. Why? Because members of these groups are typically not ready to talk to a sales rep until they have consumed at least five pieces of “relevant, unbranded, non-sales focused content”.Additionally, LinkedIn’s post highlights the importance of producing content for every role on this cross-functional buying committee… at every stage in the buying process. Because, as the post explains, the tech decision maker is a group, not an individual, marketers have a responsibility to reach out to and engage with every one of them. You never know who will make that first contact, who will lead the buying committee, or who will have the most influence over the other members.That’s why it’s critical to have a strategy for how to reach, engage and ultimately convert every member of the group at each stage in the buying process. It sounds like a lot of work, yes, but tech marketers have the opportunity to influence every member of the buying committee and begin to win them over through always-on education. What’s “always-on”? It’s content that provides valuable, educational information at every stage of the buying process – anytime the users may want it. When you consider that, according to the Content Marketing Institute, 63% of tech buyers are more likely to consider vendors that take an always-on approach, it’s worth the effort.Challenge #2: Creating Engaging ContentAccording to the Content Marketing Institute, 93% of tech marketers use content marketing. However, they also say that “creating engaging content” has been a top challenge for the last five years. What does this tells us? While tech marketers see value in content marketing, they also have limited time and resources, which keeps them from creating content that is as successful as it really could be.So how do you compete in the saturated tech marketplace? According to LinkedIn’s post, build a reliable toolbox. If you think about it, there are more content marketing tools and resources available today than ever before – many of which are free or very reasonably priced. Marketers have more options available now than ever before to design, create, write, build and develop on their own – free of any outside support. Just think about what has done for marketers!If you’re a tech marketer, you understand the pressure to stay ahead of the ridiculously fast-paced world of innovation. It’s our job to not only reach out to, but also engage some of the brightest, most forward-thinking minds in the industry. Thankfully, there are tools and resources to help make it possible.

There are several potential financing options available to cash-strapped businesses that need a healthy dose of working capital. A bank loan or line of credit is often the first option that owners think of – and for businesses that qualify, this may be the best option.

In today’s uncertain business, economic and regulatory environment, qualifying for a bank loan can be difficult – especially for start-up companies and those that have experienced any type of financial difficulty. Sometimes, owners of businesses that don’t qualify for a bank loan decide that seeking venture capital or bringing on equity investors are other viable options.

But are they really? While there are some potential benefits to bringing venture capital and so-called “angel” investors into your business, there are drawbacks as well. Unfortunately, owners sometimes don’t think about these drawbacks until the ink has dried on a contract with a venture capitalist or angel investor – and it’s too late to back out of the deal.

Different Types of Financing

One problem with bringing in equity investors to help provide a working capital boost is that working capital and equity are really two different types of financing.

Working capital – or the money that is used to pay business expenses incurred during the time lag until cash from sales (or accounts receivable) is collected – is short-term in nature, so it should be financed via a short-term financing tool. Equity, however, should generally be used to finance rapid growth, business expansion, acquisitions or the purchase of long-term assets, which are defined as assets that are repaid over more than one 12-month business cycle.

But the biggest drawback to bringing equity investors into your business is a potential loss of control. When you sell equity (or shares) in your business to venture capitalists or angels, you are giving up a percentage of ownership in your business, and you may be doing so at an inopportune time. With this dilution of ownership most often comes a loss of control over some or all of the most important business decisions that must be made.

Sometimes, owners are enticed to sell equity by the fact that there is little (if any) out-of-pocket expense. Unlike debt financing, you don’t usually pay interest with equity financing. The equity investor gains its return via the ownership stake gained in your business. But the long-term “cost” of selling equity is always much higher than the short-term cost of debt, in terms of both actual cash cost as well as soft costs like the loss of control and stewardship of your company and the potential future value of the ownership shares that are sold.

Alternative Financing Solutions

But what if your business needs working capital and you don’t qualify for a bank loan or line of credit? Alternative financing solutions are often appropriate for injecting working capital into businesses in this situation. Three of the most common types of alternative financing used by such businesses are:

1. Full-Service Factoring – Businesses sell outstanding accounts receivable on an ongoing basis to a commercial finance (or factoring) company at a discount. The factoring company then manages the receivable until it is paid. Factoring is a well-established and accepted method of temporary alternative finance that is especially well-suited for rapidly growing companies and those with customer concentrations.

2. Accounts Receivable (A/R) Financing – A/R financing is an ideal solution for companies that are not yet bankable but have a stable financial condition and a more diverse customer base. Here, the business provides details on all accounts receivable and pledges those assets as collateral. The proceeds of those receivables are sent to a lockbox while the finance company calculates a borrowing base to determine the amount the company can borrow. When the borrower needs money, it makes an advance request and the finance company advances money using a percentage of the accounts receivable.

3. Asset-Based Lending (ABL) – This is a credit facility secured by all of a company’s assets, which may include A/R, equipment and inventory. Unlike with factoring, the business continues to manage and collect its own receivables and submits collateral reports on an ongoing basis to the finance company, which will review and periodically audit the reports.

In addition to providing working capital and enabling owners to maintain business control, alternative financing may provide other benefits as well:

It’s easy to determine the exact cost of financing and obtain an increase.
Professional collateral management can be included depending on the facility type and the lender.
Real-time, online interactive reporting is often available.
It may provide the business with access to more capital.
It’s flexible – financing ebbs and flows with the business’ needs.
It’s important to note that there are some circumstances in which equity is a viable and attractive financing solution. This is especially true in cases of business expansion and acquisition and new product launches – these are capital needs that are not generally well suited to debt financing. However, equity is not usually the appropriate financing solution to solve a working capital problem or help plug a cash-flow gap.

A Precious Commodity

Remember that business equity is a precious commodity that should only be considered under the right circumstances and at the right time. When equity financing is sought, ideally this should be done at a time when the company has good growth prospects and a significant cash need for this growth. Ideally, majority ownership (and thus, absolute control) should remain with the company founder(s).

Alternative financing solutions like factoring, A/R financing and ABL can provide the working capital boost many cash-strapped businesses that don’t qualify for bank financing need – without diluting ownership and possibly giving up business control at an inopportune time for the owner. If and when these companies become bankable later, it’s often an easy transition to a traditional bank line of credit. Your banker may be able to refer you to a commercial finance company that can offer the right type of alternative financing solution for your particular situation.

Taking the time to understand all the different financing options available to your business, and the pros and cons of each, is the best way to make sure you choose the best option for your business. The use of alternative financing can help your company grow without diluting your ownership. After all, it’s your business – shouldn’t you keep as much of it as possible?

A career in the fashion industry sounds glamorous and lucrative. Have you consider getting into the fashion industry, but might think that you cannot manage it? There are so many different roles and positions that you can play in the fashion world. One does not necessarily be a fashion designer but still be able to have a very success career in the fashion industry.Being able to make a living with things you like is always enjoyable. If you are a fashion fan and love to see beautiful clothing, accessories or sketches around you, you should consider starting a career in the fashion world. Below are some key roles in the fashion world where you can take part in – from design, production, marketing, to many more.Designing
This is one of the most high profile jobs in the fashion industry. Designers are responsible for conceptualizing their ideas on trends and realizing them on their final products. Designers can be employed by companies which own a group of designers, or work for their own brand and production line, or, even as a freelancer providing designs for difference companies.There are several types of fashion designers:1. Apparel designers: Obviously these are clothing designers, ranging from lingerie, sports wear, casual wear to high fashion couture, for men, women and kids.
2. Footwear designers: They design footwear for men, women and kids from a style point of view, as well as from a foot-health’s perspective.
3. Accessory designers: Accessories has a broad definitely – from handbags, hat, eyewear to gloves, scarves and jewelry pieces.Production
Production involves the sampling of garments and accessories until producing the final pieces that would deliver to shops and customers. This massive work involves a team of various professions:1. Merchandiser: Merchandisers play a key role in the production process of a fashion product.They are responsible for buying raw materials for production, selecting fabric, textiles and trims. They have to make decisions based on pricing, quality and latest trend and innovation of raw materials. 2. Technical Designers: Technical designers are the one responsible for doing fittings during the whole sampling to production procedure. They might not be the one who designed the garment but are the experts in providing alternative to the garment to improve the fitting of garment. 3. Pattern Makers: Pattern is the basis for a garment to be sewed. Pattern makers produce and maintain patterns for garments that designers have sketched out. Pattern makers are key persons in realization of a garment.4. Pattern Graders: The sizing of garment starts with the pattern grading. Pattern graders are experts in creating size specifications for different sizes. They are vital persons in for any fashion brands, as a consistent sizing across products can maintain customer loyalty and confidence.5. Fitting Models: Ultimately garments and footwear are made for putting comfort and style together. Fitting is a crucial part in fashion industry and the most precise fitting is to use model as the body for fitting.Many companies have their own dedicated models for fitting their lines, who has the exact sizing measurement the brand requires. Sometimes you would see ads looking for sampling models, from kids, men, women to plus size models.6. Quality Control Specialists: Quality control is of top importance for any sort of products, and is no exception in fashion industry. Quality control specialists look at the quality of raw materials, like peeling, shrinking and color fading of textile and overall quality of a fashion item, for instance, the overall assembling of an accessory item.7. Planners: Fashion planners coordinate closely with designers, merchandisers and buyers to decide the production plan for the coming seasons. They look at both production and marketing side while paying close attention to the latest fashion trend.Marketing
Marketing is as important as making a perfect piece of fashion item. Whether it’s marketing in a wholesale or retail side, people in fashion marketing bears the mission of promoting the fashion item into this fast changing world.1. Fashion Buyer/ Retail Merchandisers: Product merchandisers are the ones who buy ready-made products to be sold in a shop like department stores. These merchandisers conduct researches and analyze market trend, the relative customer wants and stocks. They bear huge responsibility in terms of profit making, since having the eye to buy the right product for sales can make a difference in revenue.2. Showroom Sales Specialists: Some brands own their showrooms, displaying their collection for fashion buyers (wholesalers) to make their orders. Compared with retail sales, showroom sales specialists should know their seasonal returning customer better and be able provide detailed information on the selling collections.3. Retail Store Manager/ Boutique Owners: Retail shop manager, sales and boutique owners are the first line personnel facing retail customers like you and me.Other Fashion-related Professions
Besides in the field of designing, producing or marketing a fashion item, one might be attracted by other positions like as a writer of fashion magazine, online blogs and fashion event management etc. Below is a list highlighting the other possible jobs related to fashion industry:1. Fashion Writers: Writers or freelance writers can write for magazines, online blogs or sites on reviews, trends and recommendations. Fashion writers can also develop into fashion magazine editors.2. Personal Stylists:Some department stores provide personal styling services while some private customer would employ personal stylist giving them recommendations in personal styling.3. Fashion event Management/ Public Relations: There are nameless fashion events which requires professional public relations and event management personnel to take care of. There are PR companies specialized in holding fashion related events.Grasp the Opportunities!
Besides the above mentioned careers in the fashion industry, there are still many other opportunities like photographer, costume designer and catalog/ fashion show models, etc. One of the most reachable way to keep yourself updated with job opportunities and fashion trend is to be active in fashion forum and subscribe to fashion magazines.Grasp the opportunities and enjoy a fashion career!