Money In Untapped Markets

Hope you had a great weekend.

On Sunday, I took a nice break from the week and relaxed with the morning paper and football.

I read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about Hip-Hop tycoon, Russell Simmons and how he’s capitalized, in a big way, on an untapped market in the banking industry. And what an untapped market he discovered.

Russell Simmons has given people, who can’t get a credit card or banking account, the ability to use a pre-paid credit card for both cash and credit. Your paycheck is automatically deposited into your pre-pay account and whala…charge away. His goal is to give people who can’t afford the opportunity, the opportunity.

And he’s making a pretty good living doing it. Check out the fees associated with the cards:

“The RushCard costs $19.95 to set up. There’s a $1 fee every time the customer makes a purchase or writes a check; each ATM withdrawal costs $1.50 plus the fee — usually $1 to $2 — charged by the bank that owns the ATM”.

What a great story. Mike Swartz says, “Check it out.”

New Services Reach Untapped Markets

At MJS Web Solutions, we’ve added a couple of new services to our roster.

• We’ve begun creating email newsletters, particularly the new one for the Alameda Chamber of Commerce. With the addition of an email newsletter, the chamber wins two ways: (1) It increases their market awareness and (2) gives sponsoring companies the added benefit of advertising in the newsletter.
• We’ve also setup new blogs for our customers. Setting up a blog, you can update your site with new keywords during each new post. Think about it?

Each one of these new features or installments to your website begins to tap markets you were possibly unaware of or you were missing out on.

What new services or add-ons do you think might improve your untapped markets?

‘til next time.