For most organizations, your physical location is just a part of the way a customer experiences your brand. However, it can quickly ruin a customer’s experience because it gives them a concrete image to associate with your organization. A poorly maintained location places an obstacle to your customer doing business with you again. All business… Continue reading The Essentials: Clean and Organized Buildings are Important
Tag: Business
The Essentials: Social Media
Lately I’ve had several people ask me about adding social media to their marketing mix. Here are my three essential rules for social media: It’s still marketing Expect conversations on difficult issues Regular updates are key, so plan accordingly It’s still marketing Social media is new, exciting and sometimes intoxicating. Before you jump in remember,… Continue reading The Essentials: Social Media
The Essentials: Consistency
If you want to succeed as a business or organization, consistency is crucial. Last week one of the blogs that I follow had a post that was different than the type of content they normally publish. The blog has a strong following in its specific niche so after reading a post that didn’t have anything… Continue reading The Essentials: Consistency
The Essentials: Stories and Relationships
My current working theory of marketing says that there are two core elements, stories and relationships. Stories Stories are the threads that tie all the pieces together. Packaging, distribution, pricing and advertising are all parts of a story that is being created about a brand, product, organization or person. Relationships Relationships are how people see… Continue reading The Essentials: Stories and Relationships
Results Only Work Environment
In 2006 Business Week magazine published an article entitled, “Smashing the Clock.” The article detailed electronics retailer Best Buy and a new work environment they were promoting – Results Only Work Environment (ROWE). The basic premise is companies and workers are tied to a old mind set of a forty hour work week. The mind… Continue reading Results Only Work Environment
Only the Best – The Concept
Have you ever walked into a consumer electronics store only to be overwhelmed by all of the choices? I have. You want to spend your money wisely. But, this sea of products seems to ensure you can never be certain about your purchase. If you’re like me, you probably walk away from your purchasing experience… Continue reading Only the Best – The Concept
Coming up with an idea
My first task for my “Starting a Business” class was to think of a business I wanted to work on for the entire semester. I brainstormed for about a week and half about potential ideas. I found the most useful formula for plausible ideas came from combining three things: Something I’m interested in Something I… Continue reading Coming up with an idea
Up Coming Series: A Business Plan
I’m getting an MBA at night and this past semester I took a class called Starting a Business. The bulk of our work focused on writing a business plan for a theoretical business that we might start. Since I put a good deal of work into the class I thought I would share over the… Continue reading Up Coming Series: A Business Plan
The Art of Speed
Speed is becoming an essential part of business today, especially on the web. This weekend I attended a panel discussion entitled “The Art of Speed” at South by Southwest Interactive. Here are the points I found useful or interesting: Follow the market to where the growth is – Often companies look to attack new markets… Continue reading The Art of Speed
You should know what your co-workers earn
Companies are artificially secretive about their accounting to internal audiences. Typically granular information about a company’s books is not available to it’s employees and only a small precentage of the company knows exactly how the company is earning and spending money. I offer this suggestion. Be completely transparent about your company’s spending including how much… Continue reading You should know what your co-workers earn