Vintage Filings Business Blog

I hope you’re all having a good Black Friday.  According to a new national survey from Credit.com, consumers are very concerned about the upcoming holiday shopping season and don’t think 2009 will be any better. While the survey found people were generally worried about their personal finances during this time of economic turmoil, more than half of respondents think their situation will improve in 2009. Here are some highlights from the survey:

The outlook for the current and next year’s holiday shopping season is not bright:

• 57% DON’T think the 2009 holiday shopping season will be any better for consumers

However, the survey also found that consumers are surprisingly optimistic looking ahead to 2009:

• 53% DO think their personal finance situation will be better in 2009

The survey also found these top consumer concerns related to the current economic turmoil:

• Investments 38%
• Job Security 24%
• Staying in Their Home 19%
• Credit Standing 11%

“As we head into the holiday season, consumers are facing the most challenging economy since the Great Depression and many are understandably terrified about their current financial situation,” said Adam Levin, chairman and co-founder of Credit.com. “It is imperative that business, government, public interest organizations and the media work together to significantly improve and expand credit education outreach programs. Only a national collaborative effort can meaningfully increase America’s level of financial literacy and help our consumers navigate what has become a worldwide economic pandemic.”

Copyright Clearance Center this week announced the beta launch of Ozmo, a web-based service that makes it easy for independent content creators to license the use of their work for commercial purposes and for content users to tap into the wealth of user generated content found online.

Ozmo puts artists and writers in control. They select their license terms and set the price for the use of their content. Then, CCC puts its three decades of licensing expertise to work. CCC handles the entire licensing process and all payments go through Amazon’s Flexible Payment Service when a license is purchased. With Ozmo, buyers know instantly that they have the right to use the content and sellers know how their content is being used.

There are no set-up fees with Ozmo and content creators can license as much content as they want. Payment is collected from the buyer when the rights are purchased. Ozmo even helps sellers track and manage sales and buying trends. Ozmo supports the Creative Commons CC+ protocol for bridging the gap between commercial and non‐commercial licensing. Content creators can apply the Creative Commons link for non‐commercial use, and the Ozmo link for commercial use.

“We applaud the release of Ozmo, not only because it represents Copyright Clearance Center’s commitment to the CC+ protocol, but also because Ozmo provides an excellent commercial peer to Creative Commons’ public license”, said Mike Linksvayer, Vice President of Creative Commons.

Ozmo was created by the rights licensing experts at Copyright Clearance Center. A not-for-profit company founded in 1978, CCC is the world’s largest provider of rights licensing services. In just the last year, CCC distributed more than $135 million in royalties to rightsholders. CCC created Ozmo in response to a market need for a comprehensive solution to license user‐generated content for commercial use.

“Advances in digital technology have opened new commercial markets for images. OZMO provides an easy, fast and legally secure new channel for online sale and license of images,” said Eugene Mopsik, executive director of the American Society of Media Photographers, the premier trade association for publication photographers with over 7000 members. “Ozmo’s contributors and their customers will benefit from an e-commerce system based upon industry standards that simplify the licensing process and ensure a precise mutual understanding of the rights associated with every image.”

How Ozmo works

To get started, users need only create a free Ozmo profile. Then, the content creator selects his or her license terms and pricing, and registers the work with Ozmo. Sellers can add an image, banner or bio that will be displayed with their work. Profile information can even be pulled over directly from Facebook. Using Ozmo is easy because it works with content where ever it resides online. Content creators never have to re‐enter their work; Ozmo simply links back to the original host location.

Buyers, such as design firms, publishers, bloggers and other journalists, who want to tap in to the fresh content available through Ozmo, can do so by searching the Ozmo website or clicking on the Ozmo link wherever they find it online. CCC handles the billing, the buyer receives the license by email and the content creator gets paid. It’s that simple.

“We realize that licensing may not be the first thing most people think about when they create or post original content on the Web,” said Bill Burger, Vice President of Marketing at Copyright Clearance Center. “With Ozmo, content creators get paid for their work and also get the satisfaction of knowing how their work is being used. And advertising and marketing firms get easy access to the immense supply of online creative content with the peace of mind that they are using it with permission.”

If you are a shareholder, lawyer or executive, you want to have access to a turnkey solution for all of your financial filing needs.  That is why, here at Vintage Filings, we developed the Vintage 16 service.  Vintage 16 is our latest product that enables authorized parties to create and manage section 16 documents.  One of the key benefits of the service is that it is completely web-based, meaning that you will be able to remotely manage your business filings while still maintaining the highest level of security in the industry.

You heard me right, Vintage 16 will allow you to accomplish all your key filing needs without having to download specialized software along with never having to upload a file!  See below for some of the other key features of Vintage 16:

• Create, preview, and transmit EDGAR-formatted Forms 3, 4, and 5 directly to the SEC
• Generate Multiple Issuer/Reporting Owner filings
• Save and re-use drafts and previous submissions
• Draft, maintain and modify footnotes and exhibits
• Manage stock holdings and transactions through web-based program
• Auto complete function for Forms with Reporting Owner and Issuer profile information
• Draft and maintain templates for Power of Attorney
• Test or live file directly to SEC. There is no cost for test filings.

Following up on our last post regarding consumer buying behaviors, I wanted to discuss today how to market electronics. 75% of recent television, audio, and home theater equipment purchasers ranked online product reviews and comments from other shoppers as having some or significant influence on their buying decision, according to the Fall 2008 Ad-ology Media Influence on Consumer Choice survey.

Consumers were also influenced by information from blogs, manufacturer, and store Web sites prior to buying.

The survey also indicates consumers consider quality, price, and availability the most important factors when purchasing TV, audio, or home theater equipment. “Considering the importance consumers place on quality, it’s no surprise that product-review Web sites are a major influence on their purchases,” said C. Lee Smith, president and CEO of Ad-ology Research. “Manufacturer Web sites list technical specs, but consumer reviews give real-world experiences – what happens when you get the set home – that consumers feel they can trust.”

Despite doing online research for these products, the study shows 80.3 percent of consumers still prefer to purchase TV, audio, and home theater equipment in-person at a store.

Other key findings from the survey:

• One-third of recent TV/Audio/Home Theater purchasers were somewhat or significantly influenced by blog content
• Newspapers, television, and magazines were the most influential traditional media types
• Twenty percent of purchasers say sports marketing is a somewhat or very important factor in their buying decision
• Older consumers (ages 55 to 64) place importance on factors such as product availability, store reputation, and location

As we’re gearing up for the Holiday Season, the rest of the week I want to focus on consumer buying behavior across several different industries.  Up for the discussion today is the automotive sector, which has been under fire for the past year and is currently in steep decline.  What things are influencing consumers in a difficult economy?

Even if your business is not in the automotive industry, I believe these finding will help give you insight into consumer research and buying behavior.

One-third of dealership visitors who used an independent website did not call or send an email before they came to the store, an innovative study by Cars.com and Synovate found. The study explored the connection between online research activity and offline shopping behavior to understand how consumers use the internet for automotive buying decisions. It also identified the specific websites and website features that most encourage walk-in traffic.

“Tracking email and phone leads alone gives dealers an incomplete picture of how their internet initiatives perform. Now, for the first time, they can calculate the full return on their advertising investment and quantify the traffic and sales their online programs generate,” said Dennis Galbraith, Cars.com vice president of advertising products and training. “More than any other source, the web connects dealers with in-market shoppers and encourages them to take direct action. Among dealership visitors who used Cars.com, half planned to purchase or lease a vehicle the same day they went to the store.”

This summer and fall, Cars.com and Synovate conducted in-dealership interviews with approximately 700 consumers at 16 stores in 11 East Coast, Midwest and Southern states. Each of the dealerships included in the analysis advertised its listings on Cars.com and AutoTrader.com.

According to the study, one-third of car buyers cited independent websites as a significant influencer affecting their decision to visit a dealership. More than half of shoppers surveyed used an independent website to view vehicle listings; of those, 82 percent visited Cars.com and its online partners. Independent websites were cited twice as often as search engine results and three times more than a dealership website. Competitive pricing, multiple pictures, sell copy and free vehicle history reports were among the online features that most influenced car buyers’ choice of dealership.

“As car buyers near the point of purchase, they’re looking to validate the vehicle and the dealer they’re considering,” Galbraith said. “Independent websites can provide the objective reviews and comprehensive tools shoppers rely on to make an informed decision. Dealers who leverage these sites as part of their online strategy and fully merchandise their listings on them position themselves to drive increased traffic and sales among truly ready-to-buy shoppers.”

Four out of 10 Americans ages 18-24 will spend up to five hours shopping online using their work computer this holiday season. This same age group is the least worried about the vulnerability of their work computers, creating an increased risk of spam, viruses and phishing attacks in the workplace, according to the recent “Shopping on the Job: Online Holiday Shopping and Workplace Internet Safety” survey conducted by ISACA, a nonprofit association of IT professionals.

The survey examined how much time employees will spend in November and December shopping online from work, how aware they are of online security, and whether they comply with employer policies for online shopping.

Overall, 63 percent of people of all ages surveyed plan to shop online during the holiday season from their workplace computers. Older Americans are less likely to shop from work than those in the 18 to 24 group, who make up the majority of “Millennials”—a demographic typically described as being more tech-savvy, more concerned about work/life balance and less loyal to their employers than other age groups.

Millennials were also found to worry less about the vulnerability of their work computer than their personal computer. Close to half pay more attention to the security of their home computer, whereas almost two-thirds of workers over age 25 are equally concerned with both.

“This survey clearly shows that younger employees are more likely to engage in online activities at work that put a business’s IT infrastructure at risk,” said Kent Anderson of ISACA’s Security Management Committee. “The fact that Millennials are planning to spend the equivalent of more than half a work day doing holiday shopping from their work computer, combined with their lack of concern for how secure their computer is, points to an urgent need for employee education.”

Anderson added that the key is to educate people of all ages on ‘why’ they need to care about security in addition to ‘how’ they should ensure their transactions are secure.

Providing a workplace e-mail address to an online retailer can leave a computer network open to a variety of threats and productivity wasters including spam, phishing attacks and viruses. Yet more than two in 10 respondents have clicked on an e-mail link to go to a retailer’s web site from their workplace computer and used their company e-mail address as the contact for a purchase. In addition, one in four respondents either does not check or is unsure how to check the security of a web site before making a purchase.

Cost of Holiday Shopping –$3,000 or More per Employee

Nearly half of the survey participants believe their company is losing an average of $3,000 or more in productivity per employee from online holiday shopping at work.

More than half also reported that their company permits workers to shop online but has no strategy for educating them about the risks. More than 3,100 respondents across the US participated in the parallel survey in October 2008.

“With the economy in such a volatile state, people are working long hours and are facing increased pressure to succeed,” said John Pironti of ISACA’s Education Board. “The survey results show that there needs to be a common-sense balance between security awareness and employee compliance.”

Tips for Safer Holiday Shopping From the Office Computer

Employees and IT departments should take the following steps to reduce the risk of spam, viruses and inadvertent downloading of backdoor “agents” that can highjack corporate data.

For online shoppers:

1. Make sure web sites you connect to are using SSL encryption while you are entering personal information.
2. Do not allow sites to save your username or password. Avoid providing your work email address as your contact information.
3. Delete cookies from your computer after you are finished shopping.
4. Use separate browser sessions for your holiday shopping versus your work-related browsing.
5. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Do not download free games, ringtones, wallpapers or animations onto your work computer.

For the IT department:

1. Train employees on safe computing just prior to the holiday shopping season and follow up with periodic reminders.
2. Tailor education programs to match the various demographics, attitudes and technology know-how of groups within the workplace.
3. Conduct formal risk and threat assessments and update your Acceptable Use Policy and security measures appropriately.
4. Make sure that patches are deployed, security functions are enabled, and firewall rules, intrusion detection system (IDS) signatures, and spam filters are updated regularly.
5. Monitor networks for high-volume or suspicious traffic and respond immediately to threats. Remind employees to sound the alarm if suspicious events occur.

If you are in the reselling industry, the current economic conditions can be extremely difficult.  However there are ways to grow your business while in a recession.  And after the economy improves, your business will emerge as an industry leader.  Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions recently offered the following tips to resellers in managing their business, particularly in difficult macroeconomic conditions.

1. Do not depend on product reselling as your only source of profit. Have other sources of profit generation that supports your businesses. Successful value–added resellers must add additional value to supplier offerings to ensure a predictable and profitable revenue flow.  “If I create my own service offering outside of the products, then I’m in a situation that I’m having a solutions discussion with customers, focusing on a particular methodology or service offering that I’ve designed,” said Mike Strohl, president of Concord, Calif.–based Entisys Solutions Inc. and Agile 360, a division of Entisys. “It’s a lot easier to sell products and services that way.”

2. Know your customers’ total information technology spend and be aware of how the solution fits into the end–user’s environment with a view to fully “clothing” the sale. For example, is there opportunity for additional software, accessories, printers or personal computers? Ask questions to ensure that you are maximizing your selling opportunity.  “Knowing the total IT spend is important, but you should also know and understand your customer’s budget cycle and get into that process,” said Strohl. “There is extreme power in being a part of that process. You know all their projects, what they can spend and where their money comes from.”

3. Focus on solving business problems for your customer – not just selling them product. Anyone can do that, and solutions automatically sell more product, and are less price sensitive.  “Compliance regulations such as HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), the Sarbanes–Oxley Act and others are driving purchases around security solutions,” said Jim Steinlage, president of Kansas City–based Choice Solutions LLC. “I’m also seeing increased interest in solutions that offer opportunities to work remotely.”

4. Leverage the resources of your value–added distributor. You are simply increasing your cost structure and making yourself less competitive if you don’t take advantage of your distributor’s resources and hire your own team.  “Nettitude has worked with the DNS group of Arrow ECS for a number of years. We are able to tap into the specific product knowledge of Arrow ECS’ technical team and partner with their sales and marketing resources to deliver targeted campaigns and drive sales,” said Martin Watts, sales manager for Nettitude, a security reseller based in the United Kingdom. “This close relationship has contributed to a 25 percent revenue growth year–over–year in security products delivered by Nettitude.”

5. “Focus on solutions that have a short-term return on investment,” offered Steinlage. “IT decision-makers aren’t into solutions with a two-year ROI right now. They are much more into the solutions with ROI of a year or less.”

6. Add as much service as possible. If a project requires skills you don’t have, partner with your distributor or even another value–added reseller if necessary, but don’t just leave the customer looking for someone to address their needs. It invites competition into your accounts.  “The smart VARs are the ones that know their own skill set – that can identify what they’re experts in – and find other partners with other products and solution lines that complement their offerings,” said Strohl. “There is more in that than what just seems obvious.”

7. Identify new customers. VARs must engage in marketing activities to find new customers. Without new customers, VARs cannot grow, and without growth they will fail.  “New customers are indeed the lifeblood of a business,” said Dan Lowery, president of St. Louis-based Lowery Systems Inc. “Each year, we try to leverage the resources of Arrow ECS, such as its MPower program for the midmarket, or new service areas from IBM to identify new customers. The intent is to get new names, and grow with them. By using resources that are available to us through Arrow ECS and IBM, the cost to us is greatly reduced.”

8. Leverage supplier programs that protect margins. Supplier deal registration programs are critical tools for VARs to demonstrate and protect their value.  “I pay a dividend to train one person to track all certifications, rebates and sales promotion incentive fees,” said Lowery. “By utilizing market development funds from various sources, we are often able to put on a first-class event at minimal cost.”

9. FOCUS! You can’t be all things to all people. Know your value proposition, be able to articulate it and make sure your business is organized around it. It’s never been more critical for VARs to have a value proposition and be able to deliver it. Communicate your value to suppliers and ensure your distributors are supporting that effort.

10. “Know thy pipeline,” said Andy Bryant, president of Arrow ECS. “You really have to get underneath the pipeline and ask, ‘is this project going to go or not?’”

A new generation of investors is taking a do-it-yourself approach to securing its financial future. A recent study shows that Generation Y, while perhaps the least experienced, is the most confident and is most likely to self-educate and make investing decisions on their own compared to other generations.

The 2008 American Investor Study, commissioned by online investment firm Scottrade, indicates that 51 percent of Gen Y makes all of their investment decisions themselves, compared to just 40 percent of the total population. Just 37 percent of Boomers and 32 percent of seniors say they make their decisions alone.

“Gen X and Gen Y are highly self-directed and use the Internet to make their own financial decisions, which signals a major generational shift,” said Chris X. Moloney, Scottrade executive director of Customer Intelligence and chief marketing officer. ”Gen Y is often cited as being an independent-minded generation, and when it comes to investing, this stereotype holds true. They largely are taking financial matters into their hands.”

The American Investor Study also shows that Gen Y investors are confident. More than one-third of Gen Y rate their investment decisions as “better than average,” compared to just one in four among the total population. Just 20 percent of Gen X, 26 percent of Boomers and 23 percent of seniors claimed their decisions were better than average. Only 1 percent of Gen Y believe their decisions are below average.

“As a younger investor I feel that I am ahead of the game, and that I have completed the number one objective in investing – starting young,” said Matt, a 20-year-old Scottrade customer from Gainesville, Fla.

This confidence is partly derived from Gen Y’s heavy consumption of financial information. Gen Y in particular uses more sources for financial information than any other generation, including Web sites, newspapers, television, magazines, radio and financial experts. It is no surprise that Gen Y is the heaviest user of financial Web sites (79 percent use them, compared to 48 percent of the total population), but its members also are heavy users of newspapers and television programs.

“The volume of media that Gen Y consumes is extraordinary,” Moloney said. “This pattern of heavy media consumption likely contributes to their confidence – 99 percent of Gen Y believes their investing decisions are average or above average.”

If you are looking to advertise with a mobile audience, you will find this post very exciting.  I just got finished going through the latest Mobile Advertising Report (MAR) release by Limbo and GfK Technology. The third quarter report reveals that mobile advertising awareness grew 33 percent in nine months against a backdrop of six percent growth in cell phone usage. This suggests an increased allocation of advertising dollars to mobile formats through the first nine months of the year.

“In economic slowdowns, advertisers typically divert budgets from branding media to direct marketing channels and it appears that mobile media is benefiting from this in 2008,” says Limbo CEO Jonathon Linner. “Mobile offers advertisers a way to reach their core audience in an interactive and cost-effective medium. We anticipate these numbers will continue to grow as more and more advertisers experience firsthand the benefits of mobile advertising.”

Nearly four out of ten Americans with a cell phone (104 million) recall seeing advertising on the device between July and September 2008. This is the first time the number of Americans aware of mobile advertising has exceeded 100 million in a 3-month period. The most commonly viewed ads were in text messages – 60 million consumers recalled seeing text message-based ads – an increase of 42 percent in nine months. Mobile Web advertising also grew strongly, but with 31 million people recalling this format, it has about half the reach of text messaging ads.

The profile of people recalling mobile advertising offers few surprises:

• 57 percent male, 43 percent female
• 52 percent are between 35-64 years of age, 28 percent are aged 50 and above and just 43 percent are under 34
• Their ethnic profile is also similar to the US population – 68 percent Caucasian, 20 percent African American and 12 percent Hispanic

“The US is the world’s dominant advertising market but has traditionally been behind Asian and European markets in terms of consumer use of mobile devices. The latest Mobile Advertising Report shows that US consumers are accelerating their use of the mobile device and advertisers are hot on their tails, using the new medium to reach consumers in pioneering ways,” says Colin Strong, head of Mobile Communications Research at GfK Technology.

If you utilize LinkedIn to network professionally you will be excited to hear this news.  LinkedIn announced this past week the availability of partner applications on LinkedIn’s application platform. The LinkedIn Intelligent Applications (InApps) platform is designed to enable companies to develop professional applications for LinkedIn’s over 30 million members. To kick-off the launch, LinkedIn has worked with a selection of leading companies whose solutions help professionals with various activities ranging from file sharing to project management to business travel. Applications from Amazon, Box.net, Google, Huddle, Six Apart, SlideShare, Tripit and WordPress are now available to LinkedIn members.

“More than 30 million professionals worldwide come to LinkedIn to get business done, so we set out to offer applications that enable people to more effectively collaborate with their networks on a wide range of daily professional activities,” said Dan Nye, CEO of LinkedIn. “We chose to work with leading companies whose services make sense for how our members use LinkedIn – for collaboration, information sharing and developing opportunities.”

LinkedIn is working with partners to ensure a good user experience and chooses partners based on the professional utility of applications, the quality of technology and content, and the integrity of the company’s privacy practices. Companies who develop applications for the InApps Platform extend their brands to reach LinkedIn members and can take advantage of unique advertising and revenue share opportunities with LinkedIn.

LinkedIn will continue to work with new partners to build applications that help professionals enrich their profiles, share and collaborate with their network, and get key insights to help them be more effective and get work done. Applications are free and can be installed at:

http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=application_directory.

Applications that will be available at launch are:

Reading List by Amazon

The Amazon Reading List is a fully integrated application that allows LinkedIn members to share the books they are reading with other LinkedIn members. Professionals can discover what they should be reading by following updates from their connections, people in their industry, or other LinkedIn members who share their professional interests.

Box File Collaboration

The Box.net Files application helps LinkedIn members manage important files online. The application lets LinkedIn members share content on their profile, and securely collaborate and exchange documents with friends and colleagues who are connections on LinkedIn. In addition to providing free storage and collaboration features, key documents can also be featured directly on a member’s profile – a perfect way to showcase recent work, past deals, or a portfolio.

My Travel by Tripit, sponsored by Courtyard at Marriott

My Travel shows LinkedIn members where their entire professional network is traveling to and when connections will be in the same city. The My Travel application allows members to easily meet up at the next industry event or re-connect with old friends. The Tripit application is being sponsored by Courtyard at Marriott.

Google Presentations

Google Presentations allows LinkedIn members to embed a presentation on their profile to showcase a recent talk or presentation, displaying a visual portfolio of professional accomplishments in an easy to use click thru format on a LinkedIn profile.

WordPress

The WordPress application allows LinkedIn members to sync WordPress blog posts with their LinkedIn profile in order to share their posts with their connections.

SlideShare

SlideShare allows LinkedIn members to share presentations with colleagues and connections on LinkedIn, and find experts for certain industries and topics that also have presentations to share. SlideShare offers an opportunity for professional branding by allowing members to embed presentations into LinkedIn profiles to feature their portfolio and work.

Blog Link by Six Apart

Blog Link allows members to display blog posts on their LinkedIn profile. Blog Link supports blogs from numerous platforms – including TypePad, Movable Type, Vox, WordPress.com, WordPress.org, Blogger, and others – allowing bloggers to share their original content with their professional networks. It also enables LinkedIn members to see what others in their network are blogging about.

Huddle Workspaces

Huddle gives LinkedIn members private, secure online workspaces packed with simple yet powerful project, collaboration and sharing tools for working with connections.

Company Buzz by LinkedIn

The Company Buzz application allows members to track what is said about their company on Twitter. The application is a filter for Twitter conversations based on search terms and can be customized by members, allowing them to see who is talking about their company and products. The application shows tweets, trends and top keywords.