How can brand new businesses afford to give away 100% of their profits to charity and still survive? Its hard enough for many new start ups to stay afloat let alone give away all of their profits. Well this is exactly what a select few of start ups are doing and believe it or not they are financially BETTER off then if they didnt!

How is this possible? Its simple really. Although not a technique that I’ve ever used, some new start ups are adopting a creative new marketing strategy where they scream from the roof tops that they will be giving 100% of their first year profits to charity! Although a noble cause and something that should be praised there is a motive to this genorisity. You see in the example of a new building company in the first year of trading the company will probably purchase a van, mixing equipment, spades, shovels, website, spend heavily on advertising etc and so as with most new businessses it is likeley that the company will simply break even and so not lose or make any significant revenue.

So in the scenrio that our builders set up costs were £40,000 and he advertised and marketed in the classic sence in the first year of business he may generate £43,000 worth of revenue giving him just £3,000 profit.

However some have found that by promoting there business as “100% or 50% of this years (their first year of trading) profit goes to charity” are attracting them MUCH more business than they would have received otherwise which is not suprising as if you were to flick through your local paper looking for a builder and you saw an ad for a builder who donated 100% of profits to charity would you be interested in receving a quote from him?

These businesses are also proving to be PR gold mines! Which again is not suprising as a story like “Local Builder Gives 100% of Profits To Local Care Home” is a story thats likely to spread like wild fire around his local community.

With this kind of publicity and uniuque selling point I would not be suprised if the builder generated an additional 20% - 25% business which in this case would mean that he would generate around £51,600 of income and therefore around £11,600 worth of profit instead of £3k, but the builders worse off right? Although he’s made £11k of income he has to give it all to charity where as if he didnt do this promotion he would have £3k in the bank. WRONG he’s much better off!

Why? because its a LONG term marketing strategory NOT an overnight promotion. As, as the builder has been doing the work for charity he’s company is likely to have received a great deal of publicity from the local press which for him means FREE advertising, the work he did in the first year for charity would have also gained him a great deal of referrals for the second & third year and third its likely that due to his noble cause he would have picked up a great deal of recurring work e.g. the local counsil phone him when a wall needs repairing etc.

And lets not forget a 2nd PR bomb which would read “Local Builder Proundly Donates £11k to Charity” with a picture of him and one of those jumbo cheques. A second priceless campaign that would drive shed loads of business to his company for the 2nd year. This also makes his comany much more stable for the 2nd, 3rd and so on years in business that may have been shakey if he’d promoted his business down the conventional route.

So in the 2nd year when he is not obliged to donate to charity, I would not be suprised if he generated 25% - 30% extra revenue due to his initial marketing campaign then he would have done by not giving his 1st year profits to Charity. Depending on the size of their business & finicancial commitments some business owners still run this campaign but ensure that their salary is withdrawn before revenue is declared a “profit”.

What do you think is our builder a saint or a sinner?

“You Say We Dont Pay” is the theme behind this incredable story. It has been alleged that popular TV show Richard and Judy’s famous You Say We Pay competition has been ripping off users for as long as 2 seasons as it has become apparant that those who went on air to play the popular You Say We Pay game were pre-selected and therefore gave callers entering the competition via a £1.00 090 premium rate line no chance in getting through to the studio.

Certainly one of the most public potential premium rate scams since Big Brothers choice last year to place Big Brother contestant Jade Goody back into the BB house after voters spent thousands on premium rate calls evicting her from the house.

According to Friday’s Daily Mirror it is understood that both Richard & Judy are livid and with good reason! Its also understood that the service provider Eckoh and the Richard & Judy show are offering ripped off callers a refund on their entry which is expected to be in excess of £700,000 however this is likely to increase if the premium rate regulator finds that the scam has been going on for longer.

If found true this premium rate scam will bring shame upon the Premium Rate Industry and throw disproportionate amounts of negativity upon all premium rate services when its only a handful that exisit and even those are soon clocked onto shutdown and then normally the callers receive a full refund from ICSTIS or their phone provider.

If you’ve called the “You Say We Pay” competition in the last 2 years talk with your network operator e.g. BT, NTL, Vodafone etc as its likely you’ll be eligable for a full or partial refund.

Its become a Telecoms World! From landlines, mobile phones to PDA’s there are now dozens of ways that we can communicate with each other in todays Telecoms World. Who would have thought just 30yrs ago that the landline telephone and sending things though the post would become so obsoulete and that you could send a virtual letter (email) and have it arrive within seconds. Then again when the mobile phone came along who in their wildest dreams at the time would have thought that text messaging would become so popular, an invention that allows people to talk 121 from anywhere in the country and people are using it to send SMS messages its a crazy Telecoms World.

A lot of people are still confused whether they need to apply to regulator ICSTIS for permission to start their own Adult Chat Line. Many of those who research into starting their own Adult Chat line on 090 premium rate numbers get in contact with the regulator ICSTIS and are advised that they will need to apply for prior permission to host their live adult service (which costs £300 regardless if its accepted or not) and have a bond of £6,500.00 in place before they will be able to start their adult service.

This is correct however not neccessary as some Premium Rate Service Providers (such as Phonenumbers4u) have already secured the Adult Prior Permission documents from the regulator along with the bond via their network operators. Therefore if the users find the right Service Provider they can be covered by their license and NOT have to apply for permission or have a put up a £6,500 in order to start profiting from the Premium Rate Industry.

Have a ever stopped to think how many thousands of pounds companies how host their own SMS Lowest Unique Bid / How Low auction generate? Well its a lot! You may have seen organisations like talk show radio station Talk Sport have a continuous SMS Reverse Auction running and often give away prizes such as flat screen TV’s, Nintendo Wii’s, surrond sound systems etc.

Talk Sport even gave away an £80k Astin Martin in Christmas 2006. People love SMS Reverse Auctions and for a one off charge of £59.99 you can host your own one, choose your prize and keep 100% of the profits!