People Capital Launches Human Capital Score College Planning Tool
Posted by Aryeh.Landowne on Oct 20, 2009
New York, October 19, 2009, People Capital (www.People2Capital.com), a Web resource for college students to obtain student loans via an online lending exchange, has launched the Human Capital Score™ College Planning Tool (www.HumanCapitalScore.com). The new Web tool is designed for students (and college planning consultants) who want to use the Human Capital Score™ to compare multiple projected income scenarios based on colleges they are considering attending.
The Human Capital Score College™ Planning Tool is a Web based college scenario planner that is targeted for students who are planning to go to college and need help measuring the economic value of various schools they are considering. Namely, the tool can help students decide whether it is worth the money spent to go to one school as compared to another, based on the income potential from the academic choices they make. The planning tool works when a user inputs key data about themselves (GPA, SAT scores, planned college major) and the various schools they are considering. The tool then calculates the data and presents a graph and chart documenting results of several scenarios (up to five maximum) of the user’s potential income 10 years after graduation, allowing the user to compare the results between colleges she is considering. This tool can also be used by college planning consultants and high school guidance counselors with a professional version available for their consulting needs.
The Human Capital Score™ College Planning Tool is predicated on the Human Capital Score™, a Web calculator developed and launched earlier this year by People Capital. Built on research developed at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Insurance Department, the Human Capital Score™ helps students assess their student loan risk by using academic merit data such as GPA, standardized test scores, college and major, along with traditional demographics data and metrics, to give insight into their future earnings potential.
“Since launching the Human Capital Score™ earlier this year, we have received feedback from users who found the tool helpful and insightful, but thought that the ability to compare various college scenarios would be an added benefit,” said Thomas Shelton, founder and CEO of People Capital. “The Human Capital Score™ College Planning Tool now adds this level of functionality; as students can use it to create multiple scenarios to help them better evaluate their loan risk, future potential earning income and possibly the college or university they will spend the next several years at.”
The Human Capital Score™ College Planning Tool is available in three tiers of pricing:
- $19.95 – Compare and contrast up to two scenarios at a time, for one time use only
- $29.95 – Compare and contrast up to five scenarios at a time, for one time use only
- $199.95 – Compare and contrast up to five scenarios at a time for six months with unlimited usage
About People Capital
People Capital (www.People2Capital.com) was founded by a team of world-class talent with backgrounds in student loans, consumer finance, credit ratings and new media in order to develop the next generation of credit risk management and funding for student loans. Its lending platform allows students to finance their college educations through improved access to private student loans. Its patent-pending Human Capital Score™ (www.HumanCapitalScore.com) measures students without credit history by using academic and credit data to model future individual income levels, and therefore their future ability to pay off the loan.
Linked In linking and Social Media Strategies
Posted by Salem Global on Oct 20, 2009
If you have been paying attention to online marketing over the past few years, you will no doubt be familiar with social networking and social media. Then someone came out with the term “social media optimization” and everyone jumped on the bandwagon. When people think of social media, they think of MySpace which was the father of social media and facebook which used to be the runner up and now has become the leader. MySpace was a great place to build your own page and bands and artists from all over the world promoted it. But then facebook came out and you needed a .edu email address to join. When facebook opened up their platform to the rest of the world, it become THE place to post pictures and videos of our kids, our friends, the band we were seeing, the game we were attending (through facebook mobile and iPhones and the like) and people flocked to it.
But then everyone in the industry was trying to figure out how to monetize these highly trafficked sites. Yes, advertising models provided some clues but the business people of the world wanted more.
LinkedIn was in sleeper mode for all of these years. Business networking sites had come and gone and were still trying to figure it all out. But when facebook exploded, LinkedIn took the hint and added social media to their platform. Now LinkedIn has become my number one online space to promote my business events, services and clients. Linkedin allows you to join 50 groups of which you should be joining the max. If you want to pay for LinkedIn you can join even more. These groups are all business related. People have started separating their fun social life on facebook with their serious I need to make money and network business side. Personally I categorize my 50 groups into social/hobby groups, political groups, business and industry groups and local groups. This way, while playing on the same field as my competitors in my industry, I am also on the fields of my past college peers and my local peers.
So make sure you join your local groups in Miami, Chicago and New York, your industry groups and your hobby groups and start promoting today. You will only be allowed to join a few a day and then you need to be approved but I assure you, the effort you put into it will be well worth it. So far I have met hundreds of people online and have started doing business with a good percentage. I guarantee you results or no money back 
If you want to know more about LinkedIn or social media optimization, give me a call at (212) 993-5828 or send me an email raphis@salemglobal.com or visit our website www.salemglobal.com. Next week I will talk about online video and how to use Youtube for your business.
Email Marketing and Newsletters
Posted by Salem Global on Oct 13, 2009
As we began last week, the holidays are coming and you need to be right up front and center with your potential clients and customers. (And for you, non-profits, your donors and supporters.) But we often focus so much on new business that we sometimes forget about “old” business. We sometimes forget that the “new” clients that we brought in last year and the “old” customers that purchased from us last year are still here this year. They really didn’t go anywhere. They are in the trenches as much as we are. The economy is hitting them just as hard as it is hitting us. It’s a challenge to keep in touch with each and every one of your customers and clients but you do what you have to do. It is MUCH easier to hold on to an existing client or sell to someone that knows you already than to try to get new customers and clients.
Since the commercialization of the Internet (and before), email has been referred to as the “killer app.” A killer app is defined as the “end-all-be-all” of all computer applications. The reason for this is that email is very personal and private and always in your face. Even before blackberries and iPhones directly sent email to cellphones, email was always going to get to you whether you checked at work or at home. Even through the spammy years, people still checked their email, they just upgraded their filtering and anti-virus software.
And that is why you finally need to stop talking about how you have collected all of those wonderful emails from every one of your customers since 1985 and start doing something with it.
But be forewarned, email can be tricky. First of all, never send out a mass email from your personal address. If someone regards you as a spammer, that can get your domain name email blacklisted. That means that your emails go into your contacts spam filter because they think you are spamming them or they think you are trying to sell them Viagra or the Shamwow. We recommend using a 3rd party service (we are Constant Contact resellers so here is a link from our affiliate program. They don’t pay us until we make a sale so buy it and support this newsletter All kidding aside, there are plenty of 3rd party email software applications. Check them out and decide for yourself. We use Constant Contact because it’s easy to use, they have good templates, the price is right and their support is great.)
Now that you have the email addresses and the software, its time to start writing. Don’t think of it as “difficult.” If you can write an email to a colleague, you can write a newsletter. You are already an expert in your field. You know everything there is to know about running your own business, the products you sell and the services you provide. Now it is time to let people know about it.
Some people think that they can’t write a newsletter or send an email blast once a week but they can. Here is my secret… Start with every month. Break down your company and products into 12. That gives you 1 newsletter a month. When you realize how easy it is, expand that to twice a month. Then 3 times and finally 4. Write about your business. Send coupons. Tell your customers about a lovely interaction with a customer you had this week. “Call it Wilmas Wonder of the Week.” Ok. Maybe not. I call mine the SalemGlobal Website Marketing Tip of the Week. Catchy… Huh! But seriously folks. The whole idea is to let your customers know that you are alive and well. You might not have time to call up the 600 people in your database every week and 99% of them might delete your email. But how do you know the 1 - 10% that do open it won’t be so happy and they tell their friends and so on and so on and so on. Now you have tripled your customer base and it was all with 1 simple email communication. Not only that, your old customers bought from you and now you have 300 more orders than last year since you gave your current customers a simple way to tell their friends about you.
Need more ideas about email or marketing to your database and customers? Call me at 212-993-5828. Write me. Email me at raphis@salemgloabl.com. (I just got a new computer after my old one died, it works great!) Or vist our site, www.SalemGlobal.com. Next week I will write about some success we have been having with linkedin, a social networking website.
Marketing For The Upcoming Holidays
Posted by Salem Global on Oct 12, 2009
Well, it’s October again and you all know what that means… That’s right, to you business people, its 4th quarter. To you non-business people, the holidays are right around the corner. That’s right folks. Halloween is at the end of this month, Thanksgiving is in less than two months and Christmas (and Hanukkah) is just another month after that. Black Friday is in 52 days, Hanukkah is in 66 days (starts on Friday December 11) and that all leaves 80 shopping days until Christmas!
But why am I telling you this now? Because NOW is the time to act! NOW is the time to market your products and your services. Some people start planning this stuff over the summer. Some companies start a full year before. But you are a common person that reads my weekly tip of the week. You might know about media planning and organization, but sometimes business and shopping just sort of creep up behind you. So I am giving you some free advice (like I do every week Start marketing your product today!
As the advertising adage goes, it takes at least 5-7 impressions before someone even realizes you are talking to them or selling your product or service to them. Meaning, that if you have a product to sell for the holidays, you need to get your message to them in whatever form you can 5-7 times over the next 2 months. That further means that each week you can run an advertisement in your local newspaper, set up a PPC (pay per click) program on Google, send out 5-7 newsletters (of course to an already opted in email list) or make 5-7 phone calls to each and every person you are trying to sell to.
Of course there is a VERY delicate balance between trying to sell or promote your product or service and spamming. And quite possibly having the complete opposite effect happen to you whereas your potential buyer/customer gets annoyed that you called him/her too much or your ad was in their face too much. (Though, I would be quite surprised to hear if anyone is really not buying GEICO insurance because the gecko spokesmascot is seen too much. Related of course is the fact that GEICO mixes it up with that “bundle of cash with the googly eyes” character and the lovably tormented cavemen. So if you have some humor, sometimes you can get away with overplaying your message.)
If you want to know more about marketing your products and services for the holidays and the upcoming new year, please give me a call at 212-993-5828, send me an email at raphis@salemglobal.com or visit our site, www.SalemGlobal.com. Next week we will talk about email marketing and setting up a newsletter so you can get started on having a great list for the holidays and the beginning of next year.
People Capital Finalist in S Contest
Posted by Aryeh.Landowne on Oct 12, 2009
People Capital has been selected as one of five finalists in the S Contest, a contest in which applicants are ranked based on the amount of positive, ongoing impact on society and/or the environment that they have.
People Capital and their Peer to Peer Lending platform are revolutionizing the way student loans are applied for and received. Using the innovative Human Capital Score, People Capital can match students and lenders in a social networking-type environment.
Check out their site, www.People2Capital.com, and then go vote for them at SDialogue.com.