Have you ever thought of staying with your kids at home and making a huge amount of money? I do not mean that you will sell your children on the black market. What I actually mean by this is that you can take all the clothes that your children are no longer wearing, the old toys they are no longer playing with and other abandoned property just collecting dust around. May be you have been complaining about the number of toys that your children have but they are not playing with, or wincing at the many new clothing in your children’s room that they have not been using, then it is advisable that you turn all these old stuff into an eBay home based business. But to start with, what is an eBay business?The term eBay is used to refer to shopping or an auction site online, where many people are seen selling and buying a huge variety of products and services on daily basis. In this same website, you can as well find bidding and auction systems. So eBay has actually become the real destination for online shopping because it enables people to have access to a large amount of products and as well get attractive discount coupled with hassle free shipping.On the other hand an eBay home based business is a very simple system which can actually help you to sell the kind of things you want. With an eBay home based business you are allowed to participate in this business as you want; that is at your own pace. If you want you may decide to earn only small profit or you can as well decide to be making huge profit. As far as eBay home based business is concerned, the ball is always in your court. So play it as you like. Again you may still prefer to make a little money here or there or just work for few months and relax, everything here depends on you. One of the most popular advantages of eBay home based business is the freedom which it offers you when you take it as a primary profession.Utilizing eBay may allow you to create a home business that will permit you and your children to stay at home and clear of the unwanted stuff at the same time. You start selling on eBay by signing up for a seller’s account using your current username. After doing that you then enter the necessary information and that is all.The next thing to do is to tell your children to pack up their unwanted clothes, games and toys. Examine the quality of each of the item as you go on to take a photograph of them. This will help give the buyers a good idea of what they want to buy. Then go on and list the items on eBay. By so doing you will be utilizing your kids for an eBay home based business.

Branding is important. A strong brand can make any organization, or any product or service immensely easier to sell. Branding is the emotional binge that a customer feels when thinking about your product or your organisation.

Many times, we see entrepreneurs throw away thousands of dollars, trying to grow their businesses with various branding techniques, looking at others doing it. Many organisations, whether they are small or big, are really confused where and how to allocate marketing funds to build the brand, drive sales and increase revenue. Now, Public Relations (PR) and Advertising are the two main arms of marketing which can solve this problem.

Another question often arises is, which tool to use and what works better, Advertising or PR. In this article, I will talk why PR is better than Advertising.

What PR and Advertising imply?

PR is a powerful way to generate awareness and brand recognition for any business. It is the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its public. Common activities include working with the press, speaking at conferences, winning industry awards, and employee communication etc.

Traditional public relations tools include press releases and press kits which are distributed to the media to generate interest from the press. Other widely used tools include brochures, flyers, mailer campaigns, road shows, newsletters, annual reports etc. Now, as time has changed, technology has created new ways to build and brand your company. Beyond traditional techniques, increasingly, companies are utilizing interactive social media outlets, such as blogging, microblogging, social media updates etc.

Advertising messages are usually paid, by the sponsors and viewed via various traditional media, including newspaper, magazines, online media, television commercial, radio advertisement, outdoor Advertising or direct mail; or new media such as blogs and websites and text messages.

Which get more credibility – PR or Advertising?

Publicity in the media through PR is more credible than Advertising. Many big players are relatively light purchasers of Advertising but heavy proponents of PR. There are many organizations that use less Advertising, but are frequently featured in business magazines and the general press, which carry tremendous credibility.

Noticeably, public relations can make a long-lasting impact on public awareness at a small part of the cost of Advertising. Getting publicity through PR happens in a low cost and sometimes even free. It is considered to be a low-cost alternative and more effective to other marketing tactics such as traditional Advertising and media buying.

So, what is the reason behind?

In case of PR, the organization does not pay for the space or time to get into the media, but only pays for the PR person to develop and circulate stories and manage certain events.

The media is always in hunt of interesting news. If you target the right media at the right time, nothing like that. If the company develops an attention-grabbing story, it could be picked up by all the news media and be worth millions of Rupees in equivalent to Advertising. Besides, it would have more credibility than Advertising as it is the process by which one can create a positive image and customer preference through third-party endorsement. Some experts say that consumers are five times more likely influenced by editorial copy than by Advertising.

Advertising, no matter how intelligent, witty, dramatic or aesthetically pleasing, is self-promotion. Some people are very skeptical of advertisements. Furthermore, Advertising is very expensive, especially if you have a big market to cover. On the other hand, PR goes through a filtering process. The editor or reporter scrutinizes the information before publishing, and picks the matter which is newsworthy and thus has more credibility. What PR lacks is it has no control over how the media which presents your information. But, the crisis management can rectify the negative coverage. Besides, media is not compelled to cover your event or publish your press release just because you sent something to them.

Advertising claims, uses refinement, comparisons, and borrows from the arts and psychology to try to influence decisions. But, PR is based on information, not seduction.

So, PR is better than any marketing tool including Advertising. The creative use of news events, publications, social events, community relations, and other PR techniques offers companies a way to distinguish themselves and their products from their competitors and build their brand.

A survey done jointly by Worldcom Public Relations Group and the Transworld Advertising Agency Network found both PR practitioners and Advertising specialists think that PR is making better use of social media.

Though PR can bring more credibility, Advertising can reinforce it. It’s what we call PR-oriented Advertising. PR first establishes the credibility of the brand, and Advertising then reaffirms and reinforces the brand’s credibility and brings more popularity.

Madhumita is a marketing and communications professional, with over 11 years of experience in various industry verticals like IT & Telecom, eLearning, eGovernance, Biometric industry etc. while serving the organisations like Impetus Technologies, Inc., TLS group, Smart ID, InfoPro Learning, Inc. etc.

She was associated with brands like Cartoon Network, Pogo, HBO, CNN, Swarovski, Revlon, Amway, J J Valaya, The Lalit, BarCode, Spice Mall, Spice Mobile, General Motors etc. during my tenure in Public Relations Agencies like Lintas and Rediffusion.

If you enjoy making crafts and have outstanding creativity, starting a gift basket business could be perfect for you. People love customized products, so if you could cater for many popular occasions like engagements, wedding, birthdays, anniversaries, and festive seasons, your services could be in high demand all year-round.These days, many people looking for ‘rare design gift’ now are likely to choose customized gift because it can be made to suit the event. Thus, this home-based business has great potential to grow further. In addition, if you have many contacts, you probably would not have any problem on the marketing part. The best first target group where you can easily promote your product to is your relatives. After relatives, you move to your friends. If your friends and families were happy with your products, they would voluntarily promote it to their contacts as well. That is how a home business like custom-made gift basket tends to grow.Gift baskets not only popular among individual, but business organizations. Now, business organizations are sending it to their employees, business partners and clients, where they form a large part of the market for this home-based business.Before launching your new home-based gift basket business, you will have to make some important decisions. You probably want to decide on these things:
Do you have enough space for your business activities?
What kind of gift basket can you offer?
How much would it cost you?
Who is your target group?
How will you market your business?Although the prosperity of this business is greatly depends on your creativity, do not under estimate the importance of other skills. Success in running a business requires good marketing skills too, so if you have little time for marketing part, get someone that can help marketing your business.Good luck for your home-based gift basket business.