Category: Business Growth & Marketing
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Why People Love Brands
The foundation of every #Brand is psychological safety. People want to feel #heard.We want to feel #connected with others.We want to be part of a shared #future #Communicating that brand is done through #BelongingCues – subtle and authentic behaviors repeated over time that create conditions for collaboration, shared problem-solving, listening, and learning. People show love and support where they feel it reciprocated. Are you […]
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Innovation and Product Life Cycle
Innovations are often mis-understood as being instant hits that immediately resonate with mass audiences and ‘virtually sell themselves’ based on their merits, coolness, or impact alone. This is NEVER the case! More accurately, all innovations follow the exact same sequence of growth as every other product. No brand, person, or idea can escape it. Following […]
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Only Execute Fully-Funded Projects
A mentor talked with me about only executing fully-funded projects early in my career. I feel strong and confident every time I use this tip to make a decision about where to invest my energies. I have been burned every time I go against this methodology. As have countless others. One trick I have learned […]
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To Brand Is To Be Human
Your brand is critical to attracting ideal clients/customers, defining expected quality, overall business stability, growth opportunities, and personal wealth. Meaning: without a defined brand, all the above is extraordinarily difficult. It has always been this way! By always, I refer to dating of early branding irons that go back thousands of years. More crucially, branding […]
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Where Your Brand Lives
Your #brand is the reputation that lives in the minds of people. They might be internal, externally connected, or totally disconnected. Over-simplifying, I put 60% emphasis on external but connected people. they might include:– #Vendors– Former employees– Distribution partners– #Customers (current and past)– #Prospects– Ideal #audiences, etc. The remaining 40% on internal people.– #Employees– #Investors Synergies and momentum build when there is overlap and […]
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Marketing and Sales Relationship
I like to describe the relationship between #sales and #marketing to be that of heads and tails of a coin (or front/back of a dollar bill). In many situations, #CEOs seem to have systems and structures in place to measure sales. Marketing can and should be designed to compliment and enhance their sales processes. Places where they feel a lag, struggle, […]
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Simple Rules For Communication
1st Rule of Marketing and Communications:Say something you believe and that people want to hear. It is about being original in your perspective, not just verbal vomit 2nd Rule:Say it clearly, and in appropriate channel. 3rd Rule:Repeat and refine your message, audience, and channel. These rules are alarmingly simple and easy to overlook. They are […]
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Finding Your Marketing Sweet-spot
Marketing initiatives and strategies are as unique and diverse as humanity. There is NEVER a single best-solution for any brand, product, service, or industry. Rather, each marketing and leadership team must determine their own goals, outcomes, and objectives they wish to achieve with their efforts and find a range of nuanced tactics that serve them […]
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Measuring Ideas
Some people talk about ideas in terms of being big or small. The idea itself is not measurable beyond a couple firings of neurons somewhere in our brain. What IS measurable is the impact of the idea – the number of people involved in it, the amount of #change it brings, the #value it creates, […]
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Build culture on purpose
Be #intentional. Sure, many business cultures are built on the fly, by accident, and without much deliberate thought. Sometimes they even manage to produce great #products and #systems. But the best cultures are built over time and under careful directives. They exist to #grow, #inspire others, protect themselves, and accomplish specific tasks. Be #mindful. In […]
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Connect more than conquer
We use numerous references to war, battle, and conquering when discussing #business – #sales in particular. These suggest that business is about gaining advantages over customers and buyers that only benefit us. That sure doesn’t sound like the best type of relationship we can create! #21stCentury business and sales models are about building beneficial connections […]
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Serve Others First
I first heard the concept of #ServantLeadership about 25 years ago (though it dates back over 40 years) and was hooked! The idea is that those in positions of #power and authority put the needs of others first and help them develop in ways to perform their best. In committing to this, they selflessly build […]
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Entrepreneurs Change The World
#Teachers educate the world. They share knowledge, help us learn valuable lessons, and inspire us to do more. They are never restricted to the classroom. #Politicians rule the world. As in they create the norms and laws we are to follow to live in society. For better or worse, we give them this permission and […]
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Creativity
#Creativity is the process of making something out of nothing. It requires a tremendous amount of skill, patience, experimentation, and a variety of tools. It is unpredictable at its best, and inconsistent at its worst. From a certain perspective, it is highly inefficient and unproductive. Perhaps that is why it is hardly embraced by the […]
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Purpose Propels
5 April 2018 Purpose is a simplistic explanation of why a particular thing, action, or business exists or is used. #Corporations have a fiduciary duty to act in good faith, use their best judgement, and promote the best interests of the entity. The #capitalistic purpose over the last couple hundred years was to simply make […]
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Meet customers wherer ever they are
2 April 2018 We have all types of customers in all types of places. #CustomerService is about catering to their needs. Internal #customers (like #CEO, #manager, and other departments) have different needs than external customers (#consumers, #clients, #shareholders, shippers, etc.) The one common thing is that they all crave personal attention and recognition. Meeting them […]
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Leaders Move
30 March 2018 #Leadership is movement… towards a known goal/objective or away from an undesirable status quo. It takes #vision, confidence, and competence to recognize it is possible for ‘something better’ even though there is zero evidence of its existence. #Movement starts with #communication. Sharing ideas #connects people and allows them to discover ways their […]
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Keep giving
26 March 2018: The next time someone asks about your job, tell them you are responsible for managing and growing gift-allocations of precious resources. This IS your job – regardless of your title, position, or age. YOU decide how much, when, where, and for how long you will invest your #time, #effort, #talent, and #attention. […]
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Embrace change
22 March 2018 The only universal law is that EVERYTHING is in a constant state of #change. There is no need to #fear the constant or inevitable; especially when a different approach can reveal countless #opportunities to grow and #experience unparalleled #joy. Those who excel seem to open their arms and embrace the phenomenon. […]
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Innovation and growth
21 March 2018 Too many of us are intimidated by #innovation and make it out to be a monster of mythical strength. Just as tracks make it possible for trains, innovation is the precursor to #growth. One #strategy is to shoot for an industry #disrupting #unicorn that are requires Sisyphus like dedication to get the […]
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Transparency
13 March 2018 #Focus is about having a single-minded approach towards a known and supported objective. This allows #teams and individuals to act as independently or collectively as they see fit. It is as much about what we are NOT going to do (distraction of energies) as it is about what we ARE going […]
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Greatness lies beyond logic
6 March 2018 Logical and progressive steps will bring speed, #efficiency, and incremental #change. While beneficial, they are also predictable and therefore relatively easy to attain by others. To achieve #greatness, we must overcome the ordinary. #Innovation is the result of #creativity and #imagination. There is never any evidence it will work. Such deviations from […]
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Consider Your Audience
Why do most marketing, communications, and sales pitches fail? They lack connection to the audience. Sellers try to stay in control of the conversation and present what they think are the most compelling reasons to buy. Often it is the same reasons to every audience. Before my sales career began; I spent a couple years […]
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The Power Of Connectivity
It’s one thing to be connected to the Internet. This connection enriches our experiences working, playing, shopping, sharing, and communicating. It’s another thing to be connected to another human being. This connection enriches our entire lives and brings an entirely new meaning to the concept of sharing. Both of these connections are pretty insignificant when […]
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How to Achieve 2x, 5x, 10x Growth
Everyone in business wants to grow! Some might see 20% or 30% as effective growth. Others might set their sights on 50% or over 75% growth. But from the viewpoint of earning a return on your investment (time, money, energy, talent, or any other resource), these are pretty paltry. Most businesses need to double their […]
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The Power Of Systems In Marketing
Contrary to beliefs throughout the industrial age; marketing and sales are not interchangeable words. Independently, they seem to be infinitely complex and divergent, but when blended together properly they blend create powerful synergies. Described separately and in overly-simplified terms; ‘Sales’ is about creating and maintaining a relationship that results in a transaction. ‘Marketing’ is about […]
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Profit is not an indication of Growth
Profits are great! And quite easy to figure out. They are simply the monetary surplus left to a producer after deducting all expenses (wages, materials, rent, etc.) from the total income or revenues. This can be calculated per transaction about as easy as it can be for a given time frame (month, quarter, year). While […]
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6 Benefits of Transparency
Transparency, authenticity, integrity and the like are not just overly-idealistic buzzwords for today’s business world; they provide long-lasting AND immediate benefits to those who invest time and energy to make it a prominent aspect of their business operations. Consider the image above: Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, CT. Construction was completed in 1949 […]
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More Than ‘Closing Deals’
Sales is a complex process; not a destination or single event. It is about solving problems, introducing new ideas, building and maintaining relationships. In just one word, sales is about TRUST. While I do see the temptation to pay sales people a percentage of the end result (deals they close); I feel that this […]
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What Every Entrepreneur Needs To Hear
NO ONE CARES! No one cares about your newest technology; your office décor, open floor plan, pet policy, or employee perks. No one cares about how much funding you have received, CEO salary, business valuations, or analyst predictions. No one cares about your warranty, customer service rating, latest promotion, or even sales price. We don’t […]
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Modern Sales: Facilitate The Purchase
This is the second part of an article started (here) earlier this week. 3. DESIRE: to wish, long for, crave, or want. Decisions are driven by emotions and deep desires. It has been said that there are only two reasons that people make purchases: To feel good; and To solve a problem. Though these get expressed […]
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Modern Sales Is About Facilitating The Purchase
The most important thing to remember about sales is that it is both a process, with a definite start and a finish, and an art form with endless opportunities for expression. Thanks to the popularity of the Internet; the flow and availability of information dramatically changed the way people buy (impacting both B2B and consumer […]
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Re-Defining MISTAKES
MISTAKE: A moment of great learning, discovery, or insight; often described as powerful, emotional, and/or life changing. Synonyms: error, mishap, failure. We celebrate our educational achievements with all the pomp and circumstance of graduation. From university down to pre-school, educational programs seem more significant when they come along with some form or certificate of completion. […]
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Design-Build Your Reputation
Though the fundamentals of building a reputation – personal or business – hasn’t changed much in the last couple thousand years; we are in a time of rapid technological change that is impacting many of the specific details of how our reputations are both built and experienced. Thank you to reader August Lizarraga Jr. for […]
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Building Your Business Reputation
Ask anyone with a good reputation how they got it and you’ll likely get an answer similar to; “Doing the right thing. Even when nobody is looking, when it is not fun, or when it is difficult.” It is no surprise really, the extraordinary actors, musicians, athletes, and business professionals talk openly about how much […]
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Strategies For Growing Your Business
When asked; most people claim that growing their business requires either New Customers or New Products. While these are indeed viable strategies; they are perhaps the most expensive. They might look at the above image and see themselves (or the company) as the character with megaphone and the others as customers. CHALLENGES WITH NEW CUSTOMERS […]
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How Do You Accept Ideas?
Raw ideas have little value unto themselves. They need to be expanded, tweaked, massaged, and refined. Painters and sculptors often display a collection or series of pieces that are variations of a single theme or idea. Over a period of time, their art evolves and we can enjoy the fruits of their labor. Authors and […]
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Personal Connections
Building valuable connections is not a complex process. All you really need to do is take the time to show that you sincerely care about building them. These connections are the result of investing and sharing something personal – regardless of the format. It starts with a smile, genuine compliment, pat on the back, eye contact […]
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There Is No Value In Your Product
Value is not a rational computation of the parts, labor, talent, skill, connections, associations, etc. that go into making a product. It has almost nothing to do with the product itself; and even less to do with the various features you might have incorporated into it. Value – defined as relative worth, merit, or importance […]
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Fairy Tales, Architecture, and Business
We share fairy tales with children as a method of imparting sound advice in a way they can easily remember. It seems that the one about Three Little Pigs building houses is particularly well-suited for business. In case you forgot: One pig builds out of straw, another out of wood. These two enjoy the benefits […]
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Embracing Non-Sense
Businesses are too dependent on our 5 physical senses (which are inherently flawed). To grow and succeed; businesses need to build a culture that embraces nonsense! What do I mean by our senses being inherently flawed? Our senses of taste, touch, sight, smell, and sound are all constantly ‘on’ – sensing things and relaying that […]
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Powerful Communications: Grammar & Timing
Last week we discussed the power individual words have on your communications and how a simple exercise can help focus your communications. But great communication is not only a matter of what words you say; it is impacted by the manner in which the words are composed, as well as the how they are delivered. In this […]
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Words Have Power
The purpose of communication is to help someone else to understand something in your mind. At the beginning of 2013, I started the foundation for my own communication strategies when I published Law Of Communication. I suppose this time of year is ideal for me to think about communications. While few other animals have sophisticated […]
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Purpose Simplifies Critical Decisions
Decisions are powerful tools of transformation. Before a decision is made; everything is possible, yet nothing is done – a blank canvas that overwhelms and terrifies many people. The moment a decision is made ideas begin to take both shape and form (even if only to apply, or not-to apply gesso). Though they might seem […]
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Policy Schmolicy
I just read a report from US Travel Assoc. claiming that the reason travelers skipped out on 38Million trips in 2013 (resulting in a negative economic impact of $35BILLION – $9.5Bilion specifically to airline) was the hassles associated with flying. Some of the listed hassles include baggage fees, flight cancellation/delays; and security lines; and they […]
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The Art of Business
Art changes the world as much as it changes the artist. It goes beyond the painting, sculpture, or poetry that are produced and connects us to our emotions. Then it brings us to a resonant frequency. The work we do every day is no different. The products we make, reports we file, and meetings we […]
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Selling Valuable Experiences
Every business strives to deliver value. Many even say so in their brand/company name, mission statement, and/or tagline. We are bombarded by the word hundreds, if not thousands of times each day – so often that we de-value and ignore the word itself. Like the adage says about beauty; Value is in the eye of […]
David R Frick 