While technology has revolutionized business, it hasn’t made the business card obsolete. They remain a staple marketing tool. Business card etiquette goes through phases just like other social norms. Here are a few of the modern rules of business card etiquette, no matter what business you’re in or where you live.

Be Strategic When Offering Business Cards

Walking into a room and handing business cards to everyone is the social equivalent to spamming. You aren’t just wasting business cards on unrelated people, but you’re making yourself appear self-centered. Wait until the appropriate time to hand out business cards and give them to those who are interested or in the right position to make use of the information. Never hand out business cards at the wrong kind of events. For example, you’ll offend people if you pass out business cards at a wedding or funeral. However, there is no problem with putting a business card in the gift basket you send to the couple.

Be Careful with Social Norms when Designing Cards

Custom business cards can help you stand out from the crowd, but you’ll undermine your image if you make mistakes. Don’t use bright, bold, hard-to-read text. Don’t have so many images on the card that it is difficult to read. Don’t make the business card so large that it doesn’t fit in someone’s wallet or carrying case. Don’t put five social media profile links on the business card and leave off key information such as your name, address, phone number, and email. And don’t forget to tell them why they may want to keep the card, whether it is listing the services you provide or the items you sell.

Treat Business Cards the Way You’d Treat the Person

In much of the world, the business card is considered an extension of the person. Show up without business cards to exchange with each other, and you’ve committed a social faux pas. Don’t give out a dirty, dog-eared or smudged business card. That suggests you don’t respect the other person. Don’t show the business card in your wallet or pocket. That’s considered disrespectful. Carefully put the business card in a protective case.

Know the Rules for Multi-Lingual Business Cards

You’ll stand out from the crowd if you understand the rules for multi-lingual business cards and have them on hand for your clients and guests. A common solution is to have one side of the business card in English and the other side in the other party’s language. Even in countries like Korea and Japan where many people speak English, presenting a bilingual business card is considered a mark of respect. Hold the translated side toward the person when you give it to them so that they can read it.

International etiquette means going through the respectful rituals when distributing business cards. Don’t just throw them out on the table, leave them in a stack on the center of the table or rapidly hand them out to everyone. Exchange the business cards one at a time with each person. Hold them with both hands if possible, and take the time to read it. This is seen as respectful to the person who just gave it to you. Don’t write comments on the business card while they are present, because that’s considered disrespectful. If you need to write on something, write on one of your own business cards. However, it will always look bad if you have to write your new phone number or address on the business card instead of giving out business cards with the correct information already printed on them. Verify that the cards are clean and perfectly shaped before you distribute them.

Cryptography is a technique used to protect communications and information through the use of code. The aim is to ensure that only the creator and recipient can read and process the information. In this article, we will take a closer look at cryptography and its integral role in Ethereum.

The word cryptography combines the prefix ‘crypt’, meaning ‘hidden’, with the suffix ‘graphy’, meaning ‘writing’.

In computer science, cryptography is a technique that is derived from mathematical concepts combined with a set of rule-based calculations, known as ‘algorithms’.

Cryptology is used to transform communications and information into messages that are difficult to decipher. Deterministic algorithms are often use for digital signatures and verification, as well as cryptographic key generation, to protect web browsing and data privacy, and confidential communications, such as email and credit card transactions.

What Is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a multinational, decentralized money platform with many new applications. On Ethereum, users can write code to control money, as well as building applications that are accessible anywhere in the world.

Blockchain is commonly associated with Bitcoin, though it has many other potential applications reaching far beyond digital currency. In fact, blockchain is used in several hundred different applications today.

Until recently, creating blockchain applications required a complex understanding of cryptography, coding, and mathematics. However, times have changed. From digitally recorded property assets to regulatory compliance, blockchain has facilitated the development of previously unimagined applications.

Ethereum is a public blockchain network. Although there are several key differences between Ethereum and Bitcoin, the most important distinction is in terms of capability and purpose.

Although Ethereum users mine for Ether in the same way that Bitcoin users mine for Bitcoin, Ether is more than a tradable currency. It can be used by app developers to pay for services and transaction fees via the Ethereum network. The Ethereum Virtual Machine enables users to run any program, regardless of programming language. It streamlines the task of creating blockchain applications, simplifying processes and making them more efficient. Ethereum facilitates development of potentially thousands of different applications, all from a single platform.

According to ConsenSys cofounder, Andrew Keys, Ethereum’s Serenity will launch by the end of 2020. Keys recently announced that Ethereum will move stridently into Phase 1 of Ethereum 2.0, proceeding with the launch of shard chains. Keys believes that development of Serenity will effectively turbocharge Ethereum, bringing the platform closer to 2.0 levels of scalability.

Cryptography: One of Ethereum’s Key Components

Cryptographic proofs are critical to the operation of all blockchain systems, including the Ethereum platform.

About Domen Zavrl

With qualifications in cryptography gained through his studies at Stanford University, Domen Zavrl is well aware of the integral role of cryptography in advancing Ethereum technologies. Mr Zavrl has two PhDs, the first in Applied Macroeconomics which he gained from Klagenfurt University. His second PhD is in System Dynamics, exploring stabilisation of non-linear real-life systems.

Domen Zavrl completed Dartmouth University’s Tuck Executive Education. He studied Finance Accounting and Online Bridge Finance at Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth University’s graduate business college. Domen Zavrl also attended Duke University, where he studied Sports and Society.

In a professional capacity, Mr Zavrl has worked with some of the finance industry’s most prestigious companies, including OCR AG, Enpetro, MBB Ista, and Framingham Asset Management, the organisation that successfully bid on Postbank BH. He is a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors and has a special interest in macroeconomics stabilisation policy and institutional economy.

Celebrity marketing has been around as long as celebrities themselves. In the late 19th and early 20th century, author Mark Twain’s association with the Conklin pen company, and baseballer’s Ty Cobb’s branded tobacco were arguably the first well-known examples of what would now be called endorsement marketing. However, it was the 1990s and 2000s which saw the real explosion of mutually beneficial marketing deals between celebs and businesses. Meanwhile, in the present day, the rise of social media has ushered in a new era of influencer marketing.

Businesses are now choosing to partner with internet stars over more traditional celebrities for consumer outreach, with 86% of marketers and advertising agencies involving influencers in their campaigns. This is largely because they make less of a dent in their wider marketing budget. For instance, Mariah Carey was reportedly paid £9 million for her Christmas advert for Walkers crisps, whereas an Instagram influencer typically costs around £767 per 100,000 followers.

That said, influencers are now so prevalent that they’re seemingly blurring the lines when it comes to what makes a real celebrity, to the extent that some have dubbed Instagram stars as ‘the new celebrity’ while others even believe influencers have replaced them in the modern age altogether. Regardless of how they’re defined, it’s apparent that influencers can be a powerful marketing tool, if harnessed in the right way.

The advantages of influencer marketing

It works

Quite simply, influencer marketing has proven to be an extremely viable marketing strategy. Research from Celebrity Intelligence found that for every £1 spent on beauty influencers, brands get an ROI of £8.81, around 11 times more than with banner ads. With 71% of consumers more likely to make a purchase as a result of a social media referral, it makes sense that users would respond to recommendations from those they idolise.

You can target your audience more effectively

Joining forces with celebrity influencers within your company’s niche can make it easier to target the right audience. Their fans are likely to be receptive to your products or services and buy them to imitate their idols. This is why skincare brands tend to work with beauty influencers, food companies often team up with food influencers, and so forth. Take football megastar Cristiano Ronaldo, who often runs sponsored Instagram adverts for sports and fitness brands like Nike and Six Pad Europe.

Influencers build trust

Research shows that 63% of people put more trust in influencers’ messages about a business than the company’s own advertising efforts. This is because celebrity influencers have built up their own dedicated legion of followers who implicitly trust and value their recommendations. A good influencer will only recommend something they truly like, and their prestige and status also creates an assumption that they wouldn’t align themselves with something bad. Therefore, a content influencer’s post about your brand will often have instant credibility in the eyes of their followers, in a way that more traditional advertising will not.

The disadvantages of influencers

Working with the wrong influencers can be detrimental

Choosing the wrong influencer can actually cause significant damage to your company’s reputation. Take Volvo, who received significant backlash after partnering with lifestyle and fashion blogger Chriselle Lim on Instagram. Many of her followers were bemused by her first sponsored posts for the company, which were vastly different in tone from her usual content, putting across an eco-friendly message which seemed at odds with her extravagant lifestyle. This made the campaign seem unauthentic, causing both Lim and Volvo to go down in her fan’s estimations.

61% of brands have admitted to finding it challenging to identify the right names for their campaigns, making it clear that celebrity influencers aren’t always an easy route to marketing success. This risk of negative backlash may explain why more celebrities are working with PR agencies to try and keep their image as pristine as possible, with the celebrity PR experts at MN2S describing positive press coverage as “the cornerstone of any successful celebrity PR strategy.” As such, it’s very much in the minds of influencers that any branding partnerships they enter into should benefit their reputation.

Influencer mistakes can be costly

Mistakes can easily be made when using influencer marketing, which leads campaigns to end up doing more harm than good. One error is not clearly disclosing when a social media post is sponsored, by burying the legally mandated “#ad” or “#sponsored” tags among a cluster of other other hashtags, or forgetting to use them at all. This is something which can damage trust and even lead to legal issues, as Lord & Taylor found out. The fashion brand was charged by the US Federal Trade Commission for deceiving customers by failing to disclose that they had used influencers to promote their products. However, the influencers themselves may also make costly errors. Take reality TV star Scott Disick, for instance, who copied and pasted health brand Bootea’s entire instructions for advertising copy, and posted them on Instagram, instead of just the suggested caption. This looked sloppy and unprofessional, embarrassing both brand and influencer.

It takes significant time and effort

The relative affordability of influencers may be offset by the time and effort that this type of marketing requires. Not only will you need to find an influencer suitable for your brand, but you will also have to draw up terms and conditions for the collaboration, prepare the content involved, and then measure the efficacy of the results, which has proven to be difficult.

Should you adopt influencer marketing methods?

The true value of influencer marketing will ultimately depend on whether your budget can afford you an appropriate influencer in your niche, and how much time you’re willing to spend searching for, and negotiating with, the right one. Considering that marketers spent around 40% of their budgets on influencers in 2019, and just as many cite time constraints as a significant barrier to influencer marketing success, the decision to go down this path isn’t one to take lightly. However, with 4 out of 5 marketers believing that influencer marketing is an effective strategy overall, this approach can clearly pay dividends when done right.

Setting a useful budget in a business world where the pace of change continues to accelerate is an increasing challenge.  Last year’s figures are a starting point, but when the only certainty is uncertainty, trying to forecast trends is always going to be a gamble.  This, however, is not a reason to view the exercise as perfunctory; it’s a reason to devote time and expertise to create a budget which is as detailed as possible.  Although the budget needs to be in place before the start of the financial year, you should be prepared to revisit it regularly in order to scrutinise how it’s measuring up to the reality of the financial year and to make adjustments accordingly.

An effective budget will help you:

• Focus on the big three: sales, costs and working capital.
• Ensure that day to day financial commitments are met.
• Help the strategic allocation of resources.
• Identify a problem before it becomes a crisis.
• Ringfence finance for future projects.
• Attract external finance and grow your business.

Key Headings

• Income streams – both guaranteed and projected.
• Fixed costs – plus a margin for increase.
• Variable costs – assume increase rather than decrease.
• One off purchases – identify essential and inessential purchases.

Keeping Track

Make sure that your business is using the most appropriate fintech to track expenses and handle the paperwork.  A cloud-based accounting system such as Sage will handle all the documentation and processes required in business, such as payroll, taxes, invoicing, payments and expenses.  This system gives your business a real time overview of cash flow which can even be accessed on the go from a mobile app.  This saves time and therefore helps your business improve its productivity.  It also drastically reduces the possibility of error and frees up your employees to do more challenging, satisfying work.  It also provides much increased security and makes it easier to predict cash flow needs.

Managing employee expenses

Employee expenses have, in the past, been a time consuming, unpredictable area of company finance.  The use of a company credit card, passed around staff members, has in many institutions, led to a culture where no-one takes responsibility for the expenses incurred.  By issuing staff with a prepaid company card, a company can provide its staff with the necessary financial autonomy, whilst maintaining a secure grip on expenditure.  Prepaid cards are loaded with a specific budget, enabling a company to differentiate staff allowances, from the most junior to the most senior.  Staff can use the card as they would a conventional credit card, either to make purchases on the company’s behalf to use for travel and subsistence expenses.  Receipts and tickets are simply photographed and up-loaded via the app.  The employer has a real time overview of all staff expenditure and can reduce or increase budgets, impose spending limits under specific headings or freeze an individual card without the need to freeze an entire account.  Prepaid cards are not linked to a company bank account and consequently they are far more secure in online transactions than a conventional credit card.

Every manager and business owner has an important responsibility to ensure that their workers remain in good health and jovial spirits, but knowing how to comprehensively prevent employee injuries from occurring is no small feat. Workplace accidents lower company morale, lead to expensive lawsuits, degrade the quality of life of the workers involved, and are generally undesirable in every way, shape, and form. You’ll nevertheless want to be careful as you try to prevent them, as there are important legal guidelines you need to adhere to.

Here’s an analysis of how to prevent employee injuries, and why it’s imperative to put the wellbeing of your workers above all else.

Know the common causes of injury

The most important aspect of preventing employee injuries is familiarizing yourself with the common causes of injury to ensure that your workspace isn’t a hostile or hazardous one. The most common workplace injuries to be on the lookout for include overexertion, whether it’s physical stress or mentally draining your employees. Ensure that your workers who are tasked with physical work have frequent, short breaks that allow them to catch their breath and avoid overstraining their muscles. Having first aid equipment onsite can also mitigate the extent of an injury after it occurs. An online CPR and first aid certification ensures your workers to do their best in performing these skills in case of emergency.

Besides overexerting themselves, workers frequently come into harmful contact with equipment or heavy objects. Storing heavy objects in a high-up space can lead them to come tumbling down to the detriment of those below, for instance, and being unaware of moving equipment on a factory floor is one of the leading reasons that workers find themselves injured. Ensure that everybody is up to date on any equipment changes your company approves of and guarantee that each new employee knows their way around an active and hazardous area before allowing them unfettered access to it.

Finally, be aware of tripping and falls, things which impact all of us at some point or another. Making sure that ladders are properly placed and that employees know about the perils of working at heights are important steps to take if you don’t want to injure somebody. Know that injury at work can quickly devolve into lawsuits which financially endanger your company, so spending huge sums of cash to protect workers is always a safe bet, not to mention a morally praiseworthy action.

Besides knowing the common causes of injury, there are many other steps you can take to ensure that the risk of injuries to employees are reduced from the very get-go.

Have a safety and wellness plan

Besides covering the basics during company training sessions, you should have a company-wide safety and wellness plan that looks after your workers. Enabling people to clearly and easily report hazardous behavior, for instance, is an important part of letting workers know that they’re in control of their own destinies and won’t be punished for reporting dangerous working conditions. Transparency and accountability are the name of the game, and those companies which shun them will suffer sooner rather than later.

If you’re struggling to form a company-wide safety plan, don’t be afraid to read up on the examples of others to more effectively create your own. You should also be conducting pre-placement physicals to ensure that those workers who do end up joining your team are qualified and in good health before you put them in a potentially dangerous situation. Screen applicants closely to ensure that they can safely and effectively pick up heavy objects before putting them in your warehouse. Ensure that drivers of company vehicles have clean license records and no substance abuse issues. By taking small pre-emptive steps like this, you’ll be putting out raging legal fires before they ever ignite and consume your company.

Constantly educating employees may sound expensive, but it’s a small price to pay compared to the lawsuits you’ll be grappling with if you force workers into hazardous conditions without preparing them ahead of time. New equipment should be thoroughly explained to everybody who may have to work with it, and new safety protocols should be widely proliferated whenever they’re conceived. It goes without saying that you’ll want to invest in stellar protective equipment to keep your workers’ bodies intact.

Follow these guidelines, and soon you’ll be preventing more employee injuries than ever before.