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Month: November 2010

7 Recent Strategy and Marketing Articles You May Have Missed

Posted by | Nov 25, 2010 | , , , , | 0 |

The long Thanksgiving weekend is an excellent time to refresh you business brain by both not thinking about the projects you have on your plate and catching up on the thought-leadership taking place outside the walls of your enterprise. I don’t recommend discussing these topics over Thanksgiving dinner with your extended family. They love you, but surely do not get as excited as you do about business leadership, product management, and marketing. Enjoy and leave your thoughts in the comments below. Some thoughts on innovation from Google’s Astro Tellervia The Equity KickerInsight from Google’s current Director of New Projects on how to deliver step changes in a company’s direction/performance, rather than incremental change. Developing Organization Mission, Vision & Valuesvia Branding Strategy InsiderBranding basics that are often overlooked when you are in the weeds of your week. Take some time over the holiday weekend to develop or re-evaluate your mission, vision, and values. Then, bring your ideas to your team on Monday. Industry Reference: The Social Business Stack for 2011via Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing An interesting forecast, to the National Venture Capital Association, of where the enterprise social business space is headed in 2011. How can your organization capitalize on this insight? Ten Questions Internet Execs Should Ask And Answervia TechCrunchMorgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker’s slides highlight strategic points that executive teams should be...

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Strengthening the Reasons Customers Should Buy Your Product

Posted by | Nov 12, 2010 | , , , , | 0 |

Many business leaders approach questions of growth, revenue opportunities, and customer acquisition from the perspective of “Why would customers not choose us?”. Many product managers plan their offerings by reducing reasons why customers might not choose their product or service. While those are important aspects of successful products to consider, this model is upside down. Successful businesses look at their brand and products with the intention of giving their customers, and prospective customers, reasons to pick their product over all alternatives. Alternatives Extend Beyond Direct Competitors Alternatives include competitors, as well as other ways customers can solve their problems. For an example, a not-for-profit technology company that provides a donor-management system to help manage fundraising campaigns needs to view alternatives as both not-for-profit solution providers offering similar products, as well as other ways to drive cause marketing and fundraising such as Facebook Deals. Executive at this software company need strong answers to this question. Why would a not-for-profit organization select you over the full spectrum of alternatives? This critical “guilty until proven innocent” approach causes executives to ask the hard questions and not overlook details that are important to their market.  In turn,  they lead their teams to continuously refine their offering until there is no reason for their product not to “sell like iPhones in June” in its target market. Identifying reasons why customers would not chose your product should not cast blame on anyone for designing a product...

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Can Your Marketing Team Recreate the “Magic” of Disney’s Latest Campaign?

Posted by | Nov 5, 2010 | , , , , , | 2 |

Finding the Essence of Your Value Proposition For those of you who know me, you know that I have a big place in my heart for the Walt Disney Company. Having worked for the “the mouse”, met the love of my life at Disney World, and gotten married on Disney property with a view of the castle in the distance, I believe in the “magic” that the Disney brand represents. Those who have vacationed at a Disney resort (Disney World, Disney Land, etc.) know the “magic” I am referring to. If you have never been to Disney, you know what the brand represents from hearing friends and family talk about their experiences with Disney. Disney “magic” is the emotional response created by artfully crafted traditions, theming, and customer service. The essence of Disney’s value proposition is the memories that couples, families, and friends can create. Learning from Disney’s New Marketing Campaign Disney’s new campaign brilliantly highlights the “magic” that real people experience. Disney knows that when they exceed guests’ expectations, their guests want to share that story with others. By creating a platform for people to share their Disney memories, Disney is able to bring the smiles and memories that they have always highlighted in their marketing further down to the level of real people. When you see the videos online, or on TV, after a long day of work or...

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