A Perfect Marketing Strategy for Loan Officers

If you are a loan officer or mortgage broker looking to score some more customers the easy way, here are a few good ideas for a marketing strategy.

During the entire process of getting a loan ready for closing, you and your customer are met with more than one reason to celebrate other than at the closing table.

For example, before you can proceed with a loan, your customer must have an appraisal done on their home.

Once that appraisal comes in, both to the liking of you and your customer, send your customer an inexpensive congratulatory gift such as a tin of pretzels, cookies, or candy.

But make sure you send it to their place of employment.

Why do something so cheesy you may ask?

Because when you send someone a gift at work, all of their fellow employees want to know why they got it and who it was from.

So when they ask, your customer will tell them all about you and the products and services you are providing them with.

Also, if you have sent some of your business cards along with the gift, you better believe they will be handing them out.

Don’t forget to use the same technique once the loan is approved and than again once the loan is closed.

This is a perfect way to get your customers selling you and your products to co-workers, friends and family.

Capture the Perfect Snowboarding Moment Using These Tips

Another growing aspect of snowboarding is photography. Yes! Snowboarding pictures are part of the sport’s culture. Taking snowboard riders at their best form has created a great interest for photographers. Now if you are newly venturing into this quest, there are three things that you should consider.

Extreme Weather Condition

You should know how to handle your camera in cold conditions. The primary problem that you will encounter with your camera is cold temperature. Batteries most often do not work in very cold conditions. It may also affect the camera's shutter and your film.

To keep your camera and batteries warm when dealing with cold weather, keep them inside the parka and close to your body. Take them out only when you are prepared to shoot. However, it will be a problem if you have a huge camera. But if you are only taking pictures for souvenir, then a smaller camera will do. Meanwhile, if you are taking professional pictures, then get the best camera you can afford and try to keep it as warm as you can.

Timing and Sharp Focus

When taking a snowboarding picture, you want to capture the agility of the rider and the illusion of speed. To capture that moment, you need great timing and very sharp focus. You have to get yourself in the right position and be in the right location to have a clear visual of the subject and to have a good chance of photographing the moment. However, it will still be very difficult to take a shot without coordinating with the snowboarder. So instead of waiting for the right time, plan the right time.

Have an agreement with the snowboarder about simple signals, location, and the time you will need to set up for the winning shot. Once you have this arranged, agree on what kind of poses you are looking for. It is important to communicate to the subject what you want to capture on film. Before choosing a location, try to survey whether there is enough room for you to move and cover. Meanwhile, when giving signals, it is better to use verbal signs but if that is not possible try to have clear non-verbal signals that both you and the snowboarder will understand.

Pay also special attention on your camera. You have to be adept in using your camera to avoid losing a split second chance of shooting a great snowboarding photo. Run a few shots to check if everything is working. Most importantly check the film. You don't want to put all your efforts in vain when you find out that your film has been exposed or you simply forgot to bring enough of them.

Film Exposure

Another terrible problem that you might encounter when taking pictures is film exposure. Most often than not, your camera is dealing with too much light. The snow is bright. The sky is bright. Both these elements appear nicely on your film but when you take a picture of your subject, he becomes a dark silhouette. To remedy this problem, you can use a light filter to control the light of the background as well as the subject. This will place light on where you want it to be. You should also you fill flash, this way you will avoid having dark silhouettes on your subject.

You may also encounter having bluish colored pictures especially when you are in a high altitude and surrounded with snow. A good solution to these problems is using a UV filter. It will lessen the blue light. This is very useful when you are taking snowboarding pictures at higher altitudes.

Considering these factors will help you come up with great snowboarding photos. Treat your camera as an extension of yourself by protecting it from cold, so that like your body it can function well. Plan the things that you need to do to capture the moment that you want. Lastly, invest on your camera. Add devices that will help you immortalize the perfect moment on your film.

The Steps to Finding the Perfect AD Agency

A good Ad agency can take a business and propel its success forward in ways that few other business partners can do. If the business is one that will benefit from promotion or advertising, the right AD agency bring to the table the talent, the creativity and the resources to put together just the right advertising campaign and then to deploy it in a way that is a perfect fit for the business’s marketing objectives and for the market that the business serves.

But for every success story of how an AD agency took a business to the next level of success, there are plenty of horror stories of terrible advertising campaigns. A bad advertising strategy not only fail to escalate the sales and success of the business, it may damage the business in the eyes of the consumer and cause damage that could take years to fix.

There comes a time in the life of any business when the decision is made to either employ the business’s first AD agency or to change agencies to find one that can fit the marketing objectives of the company. To be sure that this process results in one of those success stories and not one of those horror tales, some precautions are in order such as…

§ Nail down the company’s marketing objectives before you meet with candidate agencies. Don’t allow the AD agency to dictate what your marketing goals are. By taking charge of what you want before you begin the process, the chances of finding just the right agency are vastly improved.

§ Put together a review committee for the search process of finding the right agency. This team is well informed about the company objectives and the marketing goals that lead to the decision to bring an AD agency on. They can be kept together throughout the selection process so you have wisdom from many different parts of the company management structure to guide the process.

§ Nail down the budget for the project before you put the invitations out to AD agencies to bid on your business. If you know exactly how much you can spend, that will help in the selection of the right agency and in setting their limitations early in the relationship.

§ Establish the schedule of how long you have find an AD agency and then the time frame they have to put a campaign together, get it approved, produced and activated so the outcome is in sync with the company objectives. If you have a major product announcement coming along, the time to start finding an AD agency is months before the week when the product goes public. By timing the project so adequate time is allowed for each step, you don’t rush the process and end up with an inferior promotion which will result in unsatisfactory results.

§ Make sure the AD agencies you invite to bid on the business understand your business, what you do, the product to be promoted, your market and your business image. They should also be aware of previous marketing efforts that were done by the business. If the previous efforts were successful, there may be a strong tie in to the next promotion that would work well. If that last promotion was bad or needs major improvement, the AD agency should know that so they can steer clear of the same mistakes.

By doing some planning up front and being ready when you begin to bring AD agencies in to discuss your goals, you will vastly improve your chances of selecting the right firm. And by finding the right AD agency, you vastly improve the success your advertising will bring to the company which can be a tremendous boost to the corporate profitability.

The Perfect Birthday Party for your Little Princess

A princess birthday party is what almost every little girl dreams of at some point in her childhood. Make your little princess' dream a reality by planning the perfect princess party for her. There are so many things you can do with the princess theme that will be both fun and incredibly memorable. Regardless of what you decide to do be sure that there are plenty of cameras on hands for lots of fantastic pictures.

There are all kinds of great party games that can be played at a princess party and the best place to look for inspiration is your favorite childhood fairy tales. Instead of pin the tail on the donkey how about a rousing game of kiss the frog? Instead of running around with a tail to pin in a donkey your little princess and all of her princess friends can run around trying to pin a pair of puckered lips on the frog. It's a fun variation on a traditional birthday party favorite.

For crafts you can have each party princess make her very own tiara to wear for the day's festivities. It's a lot of fun, it gets all the little girls together, quietly one hopes, in one spot and concentrating on a specific task. They will also have this great keepsake to bring home with them. You'll want to be sure to get a photo of each princess wearing her tiara as another souvenir. You can also opt to craft a photo frame in the princess theme for each princess to make to hold her tiara photo and take home with her. Crafts are often quite inexpensive and are a lot of fun for the little princesses and their moms to work on together.

Keep the food down to finger food that is low mess and princess approved. Cake and ice cream are almost required but if the party is going to last for any length of time you might want to include ham and cheese rollups, finger sandwiches, a fruit and veggie tray, and a few cookies for a light lunch and a little nourishment for the parents that brave the onslaught of pink to come along. Don't forget to have princess punch with your favorite red powdered drink, ginger ale (or lemon lime soda), and vanilla ice cream.

Of course no princess party is really complete with a bard telling tales. Have readings of favorite princess fairy tales and perhaps a viewing of a beloved fairy tale movie (such as Disney's Cinderella, Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, or Snow White). This provides a little more quiet time in which the princesses can settle down and the craft table can be cleaned up to prepare for the cake, ice cream, and presents later on.

Don't forget to get great goodie bags for all the little princess guests. One of the best ideas I've found is a princess purse filled with little brushes, lip-gloss, and plastic jewelry make a great haul for the guests and are a lot of fun to put together.

Decorations should be rather simple, pink and lavender or green streamers are great for the theme and confetti followed with plates, cups, and napkins in a color that is appropriate for the party theme (if there is a specific princess being honored) are a great beginning and younger children really do not need much more decoration than that unless of course you have a princess that has a soft spot for balloons. In that case enough cannot be said about the importance of balloons.

All in all, creating a spectacular princess party for your little princess isn't as difficult as one might think and can be done quite nicely even on a budget. The important thing is to have plenty of food and plenty of fun items and activities to keep your little princess and all of her princess friends busy from the beginning to the end of the party.

Choosing The Perfect Sexy Costume for Halloween

Summary:

This article shows the reader the ideal sexy costume for Halloween this year.

Keywords:

halloween, halloween costumes, sexy costume, costume, costume party

Article Body:

Halloween is the one day when children get to go to strangers homes and beg for candy. In most place, the weather on Halloween is a little on the cold side, but this does not mean that Halloween fun is only for kids, or that you cant stay in your nice warm house on All Hallows Eve and indulge in a little grown up fun.

If you have never bought a sexy costume for Halloween before, you may be a little confused as to how to choose one. Some costumes online probably look more like lingerie, while some look like costumes you could wear to an adult only sexy costume party, and probably nowhere else, without halting traffic dead in its tracks that is.

The first thing to consider when choosing a sexy costume is where you are planning to wear it. If you are not going to leave the house, then a harem bikini costume might be perfect. If you are, you may want to opt for a she devil or mermaid costume, but then again, you may not. This leads us to the next factor to consider when choosing a sexy costume, your individual personality.

Are you confident, daring, and possess a little bit of a wild streak? If so, why not try a sexy nurse, French maid, harem or slave girl costume? Are you a little more inhibited? A mermaid costume, or a costume that covers a little more of your body might be more appropriate for you.

Whether you decide to bare a little or a lot of your body really depends on you, because only you know which parts of your body you feel most comfortable showing off or downplaying.

When you decide on a costume, particularly if you are ordering one online, take the time to measure yourself to ensure the right fit. It may take a little longer than just automatically clicking the buy button, but it will save you time, and the hassle of returning a costume, in the long run.

Ultimately, whatever costume you choose should be a reflection of you, your personality, and should make you look your very best at the same time. For more sexy costume ideas, and photos, the Internet is a great resource, and once you find one that you like and are sure of the fit, ordering it is easy and fast.