Kiva has found the pain. Not only have they pinpointed the pain, but they have also found what seems to be a full proof method of helping other succeed with a money back guarentee for those that lend to the organization.

Their four step program includes:

1. Lenders browse profiles of entrepreneurs
2. Kiva’s microfinance partners distribute the loans
3. Over time: Entrepreneurs repay the loans
4. Lenders get their money back and can re-loan to someone else in need

Kiva has certainly cured the pain! They have discovered a way in which they can give necessary capital to despirate entrepreneurs in third world countries, while also promising full repayment to lenders. Their indepth application process for potential entrepreneurs gives assurance to lenders that helps them know the avaliable entrepreneurs are hard workers and will re-pay all they are given.

There is one area of online advertising that remains untapped: small-town and local businesses. A casual walk down the main street of many towns will reveal a variety of small antique, pizza, coffee, and other eccentric shops. Amongst the variety of stores in a small downtown there is the common factor that they lack an online advertising presence.

For many stores, the reasoning follows the logic that the stores reach is only in a local vicinity and going to the web would serve little purpose or functionality. Debunking this logic is the movement towards hyper-local marketing. Hyper-local online advertisements are ads that target a particular area based on area code or other geographic information.

For example, say you go to your favorite travel site and click on article on Chicago pizza restaurants. The typical banner advertisements could quickly change ads placed by local Chicago businesses. In essence, the small businesses that would never consider to use online ads have an opportunity to reach a relevant market.

Quicly growing are firms that provide the advertising services to small businesses that allow them the ability to market effectively via hyper-local ads online. The growth in the sector represents a  new way to rethink the scope and focus of online ads. Relevancy is a pillar of marketing and hyper-local makes this its strength.

In summary:

• Hyper-local introduces the small town business into the online ad market
• It creates relevant ads to users
• Opens the door to a new, vastly untapped segment of the advertising market

Kiva.org is a microloan website that allows you to loan money for entrepreneurs in developing countries.  According to the New York Times, Kiva is occasionally too popular and runs out of people that need loans.  The process of finding people and approving them to receive loans takes a lot of time.  As soon as Kiva was featured on Oprah, the site received a ton of traffic and actually ran out of entrepreneurs that needed money.  Other reasons such as Christmas gift certificates and television shows have added to the popularity of the website.  Some repeat donors are feeling guilty that they are donating money and others do not have the opportunity to give.

Tim Leberecht from CNet quotes James Surowiecki , saying that Kiva is too limited in who they accept for people receiving loans.  He says that “Businesses that can generate jobs for others are the best hope of any country trying to put a serious dent in its poverty rate.“  Kiva only approves people who are in poverty and personally need the help.  Leberecht feels that more donating options would help get rid of poverty in developing nations.  I personally agree with Leberecht and Surowiecki, and I feel that more donating options would help with Kiva’s problem of too many donors.

Recommendations are considered the most important part of using Linkedin to recieve job opportunities. Through building connections within large networks of similarly oriented professionals, you can expand your client base and get your name out to a larger client pool.  Such reccomendations also provide you with an exceptional appearance to potential clients/customers.

To receive a recommendation, you don’t have to do much if you have already built some connections through your profile. Once you have familiarized yourself with another Linkedin professional, ask for a recommendation. If you are on good terms, it is likely that you will recieve one.

How do you target the right professionals to recieve reccomendations? With Linkedin’s network capabilities, this problem can be quite easily solved. By simply building relationships through even vague connections, you can click on the “Ask for an Endorsement” option. This will in turn send a brief message to the professional asking him/her for a recommendation.

As more and more money is poured into Internet ventures, online ads remain the unsolvable Rubik cube of advertising and marketing. Online advertisements, the lifeblood for many online firms, is an inefficient system. As reported in Businessweek, a little over 1 in 1,000 people click on banner ads. More complex than simply not having people diverted to the advertisements is the failure for those companies to to develop recognizable brand perceptions amongst web users.

Online firms that utilize the traditional advertisement system typically receive revenue for clicks or click-throughs. The problem: most web users are not on the site long enough to care about the advertisements. Moreover, there has developed built-in mechanisms in the consumers mind for blocking out advertising messages. As a consequence, brands fail to develop in the minds of consumers.

The solution, according to marketing guru Matt Freeman, charge advertisers for people’s engagement and attentiveness with the ad.Matt Freeman, the leader of Betawave, a small firm selling online ads, looks to increase brand awareness and attention through a series of videos and online games that integrate brands and products. Taking a cue from the TV industry, videos in various websites will have product placements dropped in the video. 

In addition to videos that naturally integrate with the specific website, games featuring a product will enter the fold. Revenue, in the above instances will come through time spent on the games and time spent with the videos.

Regardless of the outcome and success of the new approach to the online marketing game, Freeman represents a much needed change of thinking. Opening up an efficient and reliable way to brand firms through online advertisements would thrust the entire online industry and revolutionize the marketplace. For this to happen, more out-of-the-box marketers like Freeman will need to continually push the envelope and challenge the norms of online marketing.