Posted by Rahna on December 7, 2009 under General | 
I love this time of year, from Thanksgiving to Christmas right through to the new year. It’s a wonderful time of reflection and celebration, a time to look at the year that has been, be grateful for the good already received and maintain (or re-acquire) a mindset of expectation for progress in the coming year.
While this is fairly universally understood in our personal lives, it is a good blueprint for our professional lives as well. There are several holiday “tasks” that can help grow our business, if only we will do them.
Holiday Task #1: Be Grateful
Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful for what we have experienced in the past year. Certainly, the pilgrims were grateful for the harvest, to have made it through the difficulties of establishing their colony and working to thrive in a seemingly hostile climate. Are you grateful for the year that has just past? Certainly, economically, this year could be seen as a hostile climate in which to conduct business. But don’t forget to take a moment and be grateful for what you did have, for what you did accomplish.
Beacon Marketing is now over two years old, and we are so grateful for the fantastic opportunities that we have had, such as:
- Helping a leader in the toy industry continually identify their strengths and understand the economy’s implications for their business
- Motivating literally hundreds of professionals to greater personal performance in finding their own Signature for Success
- Guiding a two-year old start up through an overhaul of their branding strategy, complete with new logo design
- Teaching leaders in public relations, insurance, the toy industry and many other walks of life what the value of digital branding is and communicating social media best practices
- Coaching an executive to that next level of exposure, performance and ultimately, promotability
- Redesigning a non-profit’s web presence for greater navigability and higher impact in their world
- Increasing exposure for a company that helps youth marketers reach their kid target audience in schools
- Identifying growth opportunities based on consumer insights for a property-driven “kid” company
Holiday Task #2: Recognize Where Your Good Comes From
No matter what brand of spirituality you celebrate, whether Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa or something else, the December holiday season provides an opportunity to actively acknowledge where good comes from.
That same exercise can be done in your business. Where does the good in your business come from, and have you paused to appreciate that goodness? Usually, the growth in our business comes from a combination of several areas:
- Enthusiasm for our product or service from our customers & consumers
- Excellence delivered every day by our employees
- Value provided by business partners
- Investors who believe in our success
Take a moment to think about where the good in your company has come from, as this will set you up for the next “holiday” task (and don’t forget to thank those involved in providing you with that goodness!).
Holiday Task #3: Set a Plan for More Growth
New Year’s resolutions abound, providing a time to look forward with an expectation of more good in the coming year. How will you achieve your goals? If you did Holiday Task #2, you will know what you did right in the past year and will have identified areas upon which to grow for 2010. Build on your strengths and go out from there. Whether you are looking at the year from a personally professional point of view (how can I grow in my career?) or from a business standpoint (“How can we grow the business 20% in 2010?”), setting objectives based on current assets and planning to take advantage of business opportunities in 2010 is a vital part of actively managing your brand and your business.
I think most people in the business world are eagerly anticipating the arrival of 2010 with the belief that “it couldn’t possibly be worse that 2009.” Regardless, take some time in this holiday season to reflect on what DID go right and what can you build on for 2010. Be grateful for what your business experienced, identify where your strengths come from, and plan expectantly for progress in 2010.
If you’d like some strategic help in setting and accomplishing your goals, please know that we stand ready and willing to help! We’ve got a team of experts in many fields, ready to apply their own special brand of excellence to your business.
Happy Holidays!
Posted by Rahna on September 24, 2009 under General |
For most people in marketing, speaking in front of a crowd is a typical part of their job. As a matter fact, most marketers LIKE giving presentations, because it gives them an opportunity to showcase their knowledge, connect with other people and share ideas. Presentations should be a fun part of your job, but are you prepared for anything that could happen?
Last night I gave a talk to the Social Media Club of New Haven. They had chosen a more social venue than usual and since it was a hot day, the door to the “have a Healthy Heart” café was left open during the presentation. It’s certainly a sign of the times, because in the middle of my presentation, a man pushed another man in a wheelchair into the café and interrupted the meeting asking for donations. He described, “ I’m living over in “Tent City,” and I’m just trying to get enough money to buy something that I can cook on the fire. Please help me; please, please, please.”
Well that was a first for me. The people in the audience looked a little shocked and were not quite certain what they should do. Fortunately, the restaurant owner handled the situation, and we were quickly able to go back to our conversation. All needs were met, including the needs of the man in the wheelchair.
While we were able to get back to our meeting peaceably, it brings to mind a skill that is necessary for anyone who is presenting.
Be prepared.
You must be prepared for anything to happen during your presentation. One of the most common things that happens to me is that there are issues with technology, so I’m always prepared to give the presentation with no PowerPoint. A friend of mine, Kathy McAfee, teaches presentation skills and advocates going “PowerPoint free.” While I don’t go that far, I respect what she has taught me–that you need to be able to speak on your own, without any props. She has taught me that props can be a great addition to a presentation to increase impact and help people “get” your message, but if the technology were to shut off in the middle of your meeting, could you handle it? If somebody came in and interrupted your meeting, what would you do? If there’s a fire drill in the middle of your presentation, how would you handle the situation?
The answer to most of these questions can be found in the admonition: be prepared. Just know your material. If you know your material so well, it won’t matter whether you have the slides or don’t have the slides. You’ll be able to speak on the topic off the top of your head. Sure it may be more compelling if there’s a visual that goes with it. But you should be prepared to present without PowerPoint. If there are interruptions, be gracious, be firm, and then carry on with the presentation.
I have also learned not to apologize too much. When you apologize, you are wasting time. Move on with the material. Everyone understands that “life happens,” so carry on.
Hopefully, all your presentations will be smooth and brilliant, but if you find yourself with a panhandler in your midst, be prepared. Expect the unexpected!
Posted by Rahna on August 24, 2009 under General, Strategy |
In a discussion with a client about creativity and how to inspire more of it, I suggested finding ways to spur others to think outside the box and see beyond what one normally sees. I referred them to a book called A Whack On The Side of the Head by Roger von Oech. It’s full of great exercises for stretching your thinking, but I’ll give you just one example here.
How do you turn this:
VI
Into a seven using only one stroke of the pen?
By adding a line as such:
VII
Now, how can you turn this
IX
into a six, again with only one stroke of your pen?
By putting an S in front of it as such:
SIX
or by making it an equation like this:
IX6
This exercise shows how easy it is to get into a rut. We get complacent looking at something one way. By introducing the “VI into VII” problem, we are drawn into a mindset of Roman numerals, which limits us for the “IX” problem. In order to find creative solutions, we must force ourselves to step back, start over and attack the problems anew. With fresh eyes, we will see new solutions, and that is when creativity and innovation happens.
What problems are you facing that require creative solutions? If you’d like some fresh thinking, give us a call! We’d be happy to help.
Posted by Rahna on June 29, 2009 under General, Strategy |
I read The Dream, by teen multi-millionaire and internet entrepreneur Gurbaksh Chahal.
It’s a quick read and has some interesting themes in it, mostly advice for entrepreneurs. Here are a few ideas I got from it:
· You have to have a vision for what you want in order to make it happen
· A good idea, well executed, is worth a LOT
· Take advantage of marketplace trends to fuel speedy growth
· Don’t give up: If you have a passion, follow it
· Surround yourself with positive, caring people who want you to succeed
· Sadly, many people in America are still prejudiced
· Sometimes you need to make yourself look different than you really are (give the perception of a bigger office, more clients, older, more experienced, less ethnic) in order to make the sale
· Continue through the failures (and there will be failures—that’s a natural part of growth and success)
· You need a team of “ A” players to help you
· Family support is a rock-solid foundation from which to build
· Once you have money, others will try to find a way to take it from you
· No matter how smart you are or how much money you have or don’t have, people do stupid, whimsical things when they are 18-25 years old (like buy a Lamborghini on eBay without knowing how to drive a stick shift car!)
Reading the book sparked some on-going conversation about the difference between success and failure, goodness and greatness, etc. There are several other books that address this topic, notably Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, in which he postulates that if you put in 10,000 focused hours on something, you will be great at it. All that “practice” allows you to take advantage of opportunities when they come along.
What do you think breeds success? Practice? Opportunity? Luck?
I’m interested to hear your thoughts.
Posted by Rahna on May 4, 2009 under General |
The LA Times ran a fabulous article yesterday about why text messages only allow 160 characters for their messages.
The short answer is that the guy working on SMS (short message service) technology in the mid-80’s had to figure out a succinct way to communicate due to limited available bandwidth at the time. This had to be standardized across multiple cellular phone systems. They settled on 160 characters after reviewing postcard notes and Telex messages (popular “back in the day”).
The reason Twitter is only 140 characters is that they leave 20 characters for someone’s name to be added to the message.
Very interesting article. Check out the whole thing here.
Posted by Rahna on February 16, 2009 under General |
Happy President’s Day!
What is this day, anyway? I’m not certain, although another small busienss owner and I were joking that it is called President’s Day because the ONLY people who are working are the presidents of small companies. If you call a small business today, it’s likely that the President will answer the phone! 
Regardless, I wanted to let you know about another blog that I have started to contribute to regularly: WebSavvyMarketers. I meet lots of people in similar industries whose skill sets complement my own in a different way. WebSavvyMarketers is a group of four marketing professionals who have joined together to explore and comment on digital and on-line marketing. We each have a unique passion that drives our individual careers and as savvy marketers we recognize the power of strategic alliance and collaboration. I encourage you to check out the WebSavvyMarketers.
