The Innovation Imperative | LinkedIn Key quote: "If you want your business not to have to re-invent its market with every new product, then you want your customers to have confidence in whatever it is you do. You want customers to trust that you you are on their side. Apple, Amazon, USAA, Ally Bank - these are the kinds of companies whose customers would follow them anywhere."
Honest and open communication and trust go hand in hand. If you are extreme in your honesty and communication it will be a force multiplier.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
To Give Your Employees Meaning, Start With Mission - Teresa Amabile and Steve Kramer - HBS Faculty - Harvard Business Review
To Give Your Employees Meaning, Start With Mission - Teresa Amabile and Steve Kramer - HBS Faculty - Harvard Business Review I think inspired and passionate employees are the fuel to all other success. I am sure the content in this article has been written many times before, but it can't be written enough.
Best Practices and Craigslist
Everyone loves best practices but just following many commonly accepted best practices you don't create greatness. Look at Craigslist.org, would a consultant come in and suggest a company create the craigslist.org experience? My guess is no, but it is an amazing story of growth. I tried to build this blog around what I believe are really meaningful best practices.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Why Online Retailers' New Pricing Strategy Will Backfire - Rafi Mohammed - Harvard Business Review
Why Online Retailers' New Pricing Strategy Will Backfire - Rafi Mohammed - Harvard Business Review Key quote, "When a retailer uses dynamic pricing, it's only a matter of time before those who realize they've paid significantly more than others for the same product start screaming "unfair." This is when the big problem erupts for a retailer ‘ the trust component of its brand is at risk." Every interaction is a reflection on your brand and losing trust can kill a brand. Honest and open communication is critical to keeping trust.
Updated Word of Mouth with reasons
Updated the word of mouth principle page to add some reasons for following the principle...
Five Reasons
1. Low cost of acquisition
2.Trusted relationships have much more influence
3. Like people have like needs
4. Makes the customer feel involved in the organization
5. It is a strong measure of the health of the organization
Five Reasons
1. Low cost of acquisition
2.Trusted relationships have much more influence
3. Like people have like needs
4. Makes the customer feel involved in the organization
5. It is a strong measure of the health of the organization
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Update to the Vision topic page
I just updated the vision page to include some reasons for creating a vision that you share with your customers.
Three Reasons For A Unified Vision Statement
1. Align your goals with the customers
2. Allows your company to focus on what will bring true success, not technologies or strategies
3. Your vision correlates to the growth and success
8 things I learned at Dell World 2012: Church of the Customer Blog
8 things I learned at Dell World 2012: Church of the Customer Blog First off I love the use of Net Promoter Score and second I think conferences are another aspect of content marketing that is interesting. I am not sure about the ROI on a conference, but an event should definitely help build inspiration, evangelism, and word of mouth.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Is Content Marketing a Fad?
Content marketing is very popular now, but I would not be surprised to see the trend fade. Why? Because many brands are not going to see the bang for their content marketing buck. The reason is that in order for content marketing to be successful the content has to be engaging. There are two ways to develop engaging content make it entertaining or have it provide value in your life. For examples, look at RedBullUsa.com for entertaining and Home Depot for value. Brands can provide value when they talk about things they know. Too many brands are trying to create engaging content talking about things outside their expertise. For instance, a grocery chain might write an article about mountain climbing. I dont really want to read about mountain climbing from my grocery store, but I would read about recipes or how to buy the best fruit. If a brand is going to create content outside of their expertise, it better be amazingly entertaining like Red Bull. It is hard to develop truly entertaining content.
The reality is that content marketing should not be a fad, it should be fundamental to a business. It is about delivering a great customer experience, improving your offering, and introducing yourself to people. All of those things are fundamental. So the words "content marketing" may be mentioned less at some point in the future, but great companies will incorporate the practice into what they do.
The reality is that content marketing should not be a fad, it should be fundamental to a business. It is about delivering a great customer experience, improving your offering, and introducing yourself to people. All of those things are fundamental. So the words "content marketing" may be mentioned less at some point in the future, but great companies will incorporate the practice into what they do.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Levers
Everyone wants to be able to pull a lever and enact change. In fact, for many leaders lever pulling is almost an addiction. They say, "X is not growing fast enough, do Y" or "Z is too expensive, what are you doing about it?" The truth is, like any addiction it may feel good in the short term, but lever pulling has long term consequences.
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