Business/Marketing/Lifestyle: Take risks...

I know, I know. This is contrary to what your (and my) mom taught you and probably tells you to this day, but I'm going to tell you -- take RISKS! Take risks in business, in marketing, in life, and everywhere in-between. I'm not saying do something completely stupid, and let's say, jump off a sheer cliff with out a parachute or safety apparatus, or drive 100mph down the 101. I'm saying take (calculated) risks, get out of your comfort zone, grow, learn, meet people, and do it while you can. Do it before getting out of bed to fast or walking to the bathroom unassisted becomes a risk. I am being a bit humorous here, but it's true, life moves fast and if you ask your grandparents, or parents for that matter, what they regret the most, more often than not it's the things they didn't do. So, the moral of this (blog) story is to take risks, assess the situation, do a thorough analysis -- is it worth it? What are the benefits? What are the costs and potential consequences? What is the likelihood of coming out on top? Whatever you do, don't become complacent -- keep moving forward, innovate, disrupt, become a better person, more informed, more educated -- be the best at what you do, and who you are.

Take risks in Business:

It is a known fact that we are now operating in a global economy -- competition is fierce, buyer behavior has changed, large corporations no longer have a dominant grip on the market, technology is affordable and accessible to all, I can go on and on. So how does a company (maybe yours) standout and capture a profitable share of the market? By taking risks! No longer is the "old way" of doing business a viable option. Businesses must step out of their comfort zone and become innovators and disruptors. Innovation does not have to be some radical, technological advancement, nor does it have to come with a significant amount of capital investments. It can be as simple as offering a product/service in a better more efficient way than the competition; or it can be a minor incremental innovation to an existing product/service. It can also be a change in company culture or something as simple as hiring an individual that does not necessarily have the same background as everyone else -- diversification. Taking risks in business should always be calculated and well thought out through thorough market research and quantitative and qualitative data analysis. A few companies that either are or have taken significant risks are: Tesla, Virgin, Zappos, Apple (Steve Jobs era), and Netflix; all of which have or are changing the way we think and interact in our day-to-day lives. The two major things that they all have in common are great leaders that believe in what they are doing and have entrenched a culture that curates this behavior. After all, consumers really have no idea what they want.

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." ~ Henry Ford

Take risks in Marketing:

I have written about how to standout amongst the marketing clutter in the past, however, having just read the Fast Company article "This Company's Brilliantly Sassy Branding Strategy Makes Yours Look Sad And Boring" by Elizabeth Segran, I was inspired to write about the importance of taking risks, particularly in/with Marketing. The article goes into the branding strategy of a privately owned small business called, Manhattan Mini Storage (MMS), and how their messaging is pushing boundaries to the point where it can sometimes be seen as offensive to certain demographics. It is really a great read, and aspiring to a marketing guru such as myself.

The majority of brands (small and large) are afraid to take a chance and go with out of the box messaging to attract attention and capture market share. In reality, this strategy is ideal in today's super saturated and hyper digital world, where we (the consumer) are exposed to 1000s of messages/posts a day! So you offend some people that are not in your target demographic -- no big deal, as your target will appreciate your honesty and more often than not, will become even more loyal to your brand. After all, even the bad press will attract others in your target market that otherwise may not be aware of your product/service, like myself as I have never heard of MMS. This is especially true in today's polarized world. Take a stand for what you believe in and let people know what your brand is about, be honest, push some boundaries, shake things up, and most importantly, OWN IT.

Those of us in California know all about the Carl's Jr. commercials. They pretty much said, screw it, everyone else is pushing towards the health conscious movement, with conservative, family oriented content -- not Carl's Jr. They are going right for the 18 - 30 year old male demographic, with no shame -- head down and charging. Is it working? Can't say for sure, however, I would bet if it is working, it is solely due to the fact that they have committed to it and are owning it.

Take risks in Life:

The same principals for taking risks in business and marketing can be applied to life. Let's face it life is short! If you feel as if you need a change and are contemplating your decision, evaluate the positives and negatives, and if they weigh out -- do it! Yes, it can be overwhelming or scary at first, leaving your friends and family behind, etc. However, if you don't take that risk and go all in, chances are you'll regret it. If you don't believe me, ask your elders, I guarantee they will say go for it! There are countless articles out there, blogs, etc., that speak on this so I'm not going to elaborate further, but it is a fact. Risks in life can be anything as simple as going after the girl you want, telling someone how you really feel, getting a new pair of glasses, meeting new people, trying a new food to more risky: a career change (not an easy decision, believe me), furthering your education (best thing I've done), moving out of your hometown (not that bad), skydiving (on the agenda), starting your own business (stay tuned), having kids (maybe), etc. Bottom line is, when you make the decision to take the risk, go for it, jump in with both feet and give it all you got -- things have a way of working out as long as you commit to it. I'm not sure who says this (I could look it up but...), "You get out of life what you put into it."

As always, I'd love to hear your comments on this topic, so please leave comments if you desire.

PS - If you are in need of any Business and Marketing consultation for your small to mid-sized business/start-up feel free to shoot me an email at: modernbizstrategy@gmail.com.

Cheers,

ModerManTellsAll

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Entrepreneur: Launching a Business

Having been a part of numerous startups over my career in various industries, and having known and knowing close friends, family members, and business associates that have made the leap and taken the risk of starting their own businesses, I wanted to share a few things that I feel are very important to get right from the jump.

1) Write a business plan

This is a BIG one, yet is rarely executed properly, if it's even done at all. Many entrepreneurs and small business owners feel they have a great idea for a new product/service, feel they can take an existing product/service and do it better than what is currently on the market, or have an incremental innovation to an existing product/service that will enhance the consumer experience and fulfill a need. In fact, these reasons are why most businesses and startups are launched, however, 3 out of 4 will fail! That is an extraordinary high percentage. Yes, some will fail due to lack of capital funding and others will fail by burning through capital far too quickly, and some will fail from lack of leadership, direction, and vision. Regardless of the reason, a lack of a well thought out business plan is more often than not at the root of the problem.

Writing a business plan forces the business owner to carefully analyze why they are starting a business, who their competitors are, what is the market for the product or service, economic climate, etc., prior to investing all that time and money, which is needed to get a business off the ground. Many people I have met with, and worked for actually, will for-go writing a business plan all together, claiming they have it all in their heads; they are purely reacting to scenarios day-to-day. Writing a business plan is a proactive approach as it will help streamline your thoughts, make adjustments prior to launch, enable a clear vision for the business, enable you to seek and procure investors, heck, it may even force you to re-evaluate your decision to start a company all together.

I would suggest consulting with someone who is well-versed in writing a business plan(s) and/or launching startups, even if it may be seen as a costly expense as it will no doubt save you money in the long run and moving forward. If you do not know anyone to consult with, or if you find it to be too costly there are many websites that offer business plan templates for a limited one-time fee, some may even be found online for free. However, I would be cautious of anything that is free as many times in life you get what you pay for.

2) Determine your target market(s) and position your brand accordingly

This one is all too common as well. You have a great product/service that is ready for market, perfect let's start making some money! Right?? Well, of course one wants to make money, but who exactly are you selling to? A small business or startup (typically) does not have the resources to just get a company off the ground and start selling to anyone and everyone that is ready (or not) to buy. Furthermore, marketing can be an expensive business unit, particularly without a clear target market(s), as much will be wasted (time and money) while you're testing to see who is going to be a viable customer for your business. Determining your target market(s) should be done prior to launch, again a proactive approach, not a reactive one.

Once your target market(s) have been identified, it is extremely important to position your brand accordingly. What do I mean by this? Well, let's say you have targeted the high-end, high-quality coffee consumer market - essentially competing with Starbucks. This would not be an easy task, even with a well-thought out business plan and preparation; however, it could be done with a focused strategy. Therefore, when you position your brand on the high-end, high-quality market, all of your branding and marketing should be targeted as such. You want to go full-bore and start capturing market share in that space immediately. Far too often I have seen companies without a defined target market and brand positioning waste valuable resources at a fast-clip by trying to serve any and all markets, even to a market that would never pay $2 for a cup of "drip" coffee or $5+ on an "Orange Mocha Frappuccino" (couldn't resist the Zoolander reference).

3) Start tracking financial (costs, expenses, revenues) and sales data immediately

Many new (and sometimes experienced) entrepreneurs and small business owners fail to do this as they just jump right in and start producing and selling their product/service. I am all for initiative and motivation as that is what is going to enable your company to survive and thrive, however, prior to launching I'd recommend putting the data tracking applications in place. This can be accomplished through the use of Excel, Quickbooks, Quicken, or any other new app/software that is out there in the market place (there are a lot of them). Again, this may seem like an obvious implementation, but you'd be surprised how many business fail to have this in place, or have started it but stopped for whatever reason, too busy, lack of spreadsheet knowledge, I'll do it later, etc.

The problem with failing to track financial and sales data is that as it accumulates and business operations pick up (hopefully), the harder it is to go back and input the data. Furthermore, having all your data tracked will enable you to compare data from previous days/weeks/months, forecast sales, procure more capital in the future, find partners and investors, identify issues, etc. In today's technological world financial tracking and data storage is highly accessible and in many cases fairly user-friendly. Once again, I'd recommend consulting with a professional on this matter, at least initially to setup the templates.

Obviously there are many other factors that go into launching a business, many of which have been posted in other posts on LinkedIn. However, I feel these 3 are major factors to consider prior to launching a business and in the long run save you a lot of time, money, and headaches moving forward.

As always, I'd love to hear your comments on this topic, so please leave comments if you desire.

PS - If you are in need of any Business and Marketing consultation for your small to mid-sized business/start-up feel free to shoot me an email at: modernbizstrategy@gmail.com.

Cheers,

ModernManTellsAll

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Marketing: 3 most common digital marketing mistakes

The 3 most common digital marketing mistakes...

Ah yes, it's that time again.  With digital marketing becoming more of a necessity than a "fad," I thought I'd share my opinion/observations on the three most common mistakes I see across the digital landscape and with clients and associates.

1) Duplicate and redundant content across all channels

I have this listed as number one for two reasons: For one, it is probably the most common.  And two, it drives me nuts to see this.  Think about it, with 3rd party apps like Hootsuite, SpreadSocial, and SocialOomph scheduling and coordinating posts is super easy, and sometimes too easy as a social media manager or operations manager can schedule multiple tweets for the week and assign the same posts across all channels (not recommended).  This makes sense right??  Spread our message to as many people as we can across all channels efficiently...that's the name of the game.  Well, no, not really.  All of the social media channels have a different communication and interaction method, and many times, a completely different demographic.   Therefore, duplicating the same message across all social channels could in fact be hindering your brand instead of growing it.  Many social media users are extremely educated and versed in the proper communication and interaction methods/techniques and can quickly tell what your company is doing, and many times turn them off all together.  It actually portrays laziness as well, almost as if you don't want to take the time and don't really care about your product/service.  So take the time to properly communicate, promote, and engage across all social channels.  If you're limited on time and resources then narrow your channels down to one or two.

2) Poor grammar 

Poor grammar, the ultimate brand killer.  If there's one thing we've learned over the last few years, it's the fact that one or two mistakes on social media can absolutely damage your brand, and it can be very hard to bring back the loyalty.  I'm not going to tell you what you should or should not post as far as graphic content (American Airlines), politics, religion, etc. as that is obvious.  What I do want to address is the use of poor grammar.  I get that you only have a certain amount of characters to get your message across; however that should not mean you have to sacrifice proper grammar.  Yes, it forces you to be far more creative with your writing, which is a good thing; All the more reason to find a qualified digital marketing expert to communicate this message properly.  I understand that mistakes are made from time to time, as many of us get so busy and our attention is not fully focused on our social media posts; heck, I'm sure you can find a few grammar mistakes on this blog (I am not perfect).  However, when these mistakes are constantly happening you will discredit your brand and portray a lack of professionalism and commitment to stand behind your product/service.

3) Buying followers and likes

OK, I get it you want more followers.  This actually used to be a lot more common two or so years ago, however, I still see this happening with some smaller companies that I meet with, they have 1000s of followers on Facebook and/or Twitter, and my first reaction is, WOW, that's great!  Then I'll ask questions such as: How are your sales from these channels? How much is your website traffic increasing monthly? What is your ROI?  Once I get the answer, which is most common, none or very little.  My next step is to analyze the social media channels and see how engaged their followers are; are there a lot of likes and shares, comments, etc.  Typically the answer is no.  If you have a few thousand followers and you're posting content regularly, you should, by default have some interactions happening.  That is if your followers are a part of your target demographic and actually invested in your message: your brand and your product/service.  If they are not, then those thousands of followers mind as well be one.  That said, not all is lost as the reality is, if you have that many followers it is that much easier to find and engage, new, real, potential customers and attract them to your social media pages organically.

So there you have it, the 3 most common digital marketing mistakes I have come across over the last few years.  The best advice I can give is to pay attention to what you are posting, what you're followers are saying, and where your content is being distributed.

As always, I'd love to hear your comments on this topic, so please leave comments if you desire.

PS - If you are in need of any Business and Marketing consultation for your small to mid-sized business/start-up feel free to shoot me an email at: modernbizstrategy@gmail.com.

Cheers,

ModernManTellsAll

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Marketing Strategy: How to standout amongst the clutter

How to standout amongst the clutter...a question every Marketing Manager and company is, or should be asking themselves.

To start let's first explain what I mean by "clutter".  Clutter is the saturation of content, posts, pictures,  video, TV commercials, billboard ads, etc., crowding our social media pages, train stations, streets and sidewalks, etc.  Just think about all of the posts and ads on your personal Facebook page, Twitter account, LinkedIn page, etc., which may only have a couple hundred people or a couple of thousand (if you're a social butterfly and/or great networker), either way those numbers are unsubstantial when you look at the grand scheme of things.  But even still, there is no way to possibly read and click on all the posts.  For one, everyone is extremely busy managing their own lives, and for two some of the posts/content is not worth looking into any further, let alone engaging in meaningful conversation.

So what can you do as a Marketing Manager or a company that is dealing with hundreds of thousands or even millions of potential clients/consumers.

Choose your social media platforms wisely.  With so many options out there to engage in and communicate your brand, a company/marketing manager must define which platforms will provide the highest ROI and maximize available resources, no matter how limited.  A great way to do this would be to access and analyze the direct competitors (particularly the leaders) - see which platforms they are using, chances are the same will work for you, or some combination of.  Secondly, the company/marketing manager should determine which platforms they and their team are most comfortable and familiar with using.  The last thing you want to do is work with a platform where no one has experience, or where your target market has limited use.  If you do some research on major brands and industries you will see, for the most part, they will use the exact same platforms, give or take one or two.  For example, the car industry will use Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Know your audience.  Everyone is enamored with numbers.  I have 10,000 followers or 100,000 Facebook likes.  That's great, who are these people?  How did you get them?  Are they turning into customers?  Are they sharing and commenting on your posts/content?  The point is, you can have all the followers in the world, but if they are not in line with your brand, your message, and/or product/service, you mind as well have zero.

Content is King.  Yea, we've all heard this countless times, of course uploading and posting content is a must for your brand to gain awareness, penetrate markets, and in the end bring in revenues.  But the question is, what kind of content is going to engage your audience to the point where they want to click on your posts, share, like, engage, and ultimately buy into what your brand is about. This is where it is important to post visually stimulating content (e.g. pictures, videos, etc.), these can be original content (if you can this would be ideal), or even stock photos, free google pictures, a trending YouTube Video, etc., as long as you are clear of copyright infringement any and all of the above will work just fine.  Just make sure the content is in-line with the brand, and portrays what the culture is like, what the company appreciates and values,  educational, has something to do with the industry and product line, etc.

Engage your audience as much as possible.  Some of you have heard of the 80/20 rule in marketing, where 20% of your marketing messages produce 80% of your campaign results, which may very well be true.  But I'm here to tell you this rule also applies to the amount of time a Marketing Manager, and their team, should be allocated towards engagement.  The more we engage the audience the higher the probability that the campaign will build loyal followers/customers, and ultimately become successful.  Now these percentages are by no means set in stone, as a Marketing Manager should constantly be tracking and analyzing results, and should adjust accordingly - maybe try a 70/30 rule, whatever works for you.  The point is, social media has made marketing personal, it's almost as if we have gone back in time (so to speak), to a time pre-television, pre-intertnet era, where human interaction was essential for a brand to sell a product/service.  Social media has a very human element to it, granted there are some robots trolling Twitter and Facebook; however, for the most part, there is a real human being on the other end.  Always try and remember that.

Commit.  Ah, the dreaded word for some of us, but yes, you MUST commit to a well-defined integrated marketing strategy.  Gaining brand awareness and market penetration is something that takes a lot of time, particularly if you are a new startup or small and growing business.  As stated above, the internet and social media is cluttered with content - everywhere we look we are inundated with adverts, business associates, family and friends, heck everyone on LinkedIn has the ability to blog now with a direct, built-in audience.  In the web 2.0 world we now live in, everything grows exponentially - meaning once you get a 100 followers, the next 100 will not be as hard, and once you hit a 1000, the next 1000 happens that much quicker, as long as you commit to the marketing plan and strategy.  That said the opposite is true as well.  If you only commit to the integrated marketing plan/strategy for a short amount of time it is going to be that much harder to build that audience back up - attention spans are extremely short and once you lose or start to lose an audience action must be taken immediately or you risk being forgotten (e.g. JC Penny).

As always, I'd love to hear your comments on this topic, so please leave comments if you desire.

PS - If you are in need of any Business and Marketing consultation for your small to mid-sized business/start-up feel free to shoot me an email at: modernbizstrategy@gmail.com.

Cheers,

ModernManTellsAll

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