Chris Zapata Viado
Photo: Chris Zapata Viado
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Inspirational Quote Of The Day
"Everybody wants change. Change is a great thing. But how can change happen if every person can't even take responsibilities for their own life and their own actions?"
Chris Zapata Viado
Photo: Chris Zapata Viado
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Chris Zapata Viado
Photo: Chris Zapata Viado
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Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Inspirational Quote Of The Day
"There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Painting: wallpoper.com
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Dwight D. Eisenhower
Painting: wallpoper.com
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Monday, December 17, 2012
Inspirational Quote Of The Day
"In the face of tragedies and adversities, faith in God becomes more crucial than ever. Faith could not turn back time, but it can definitely help heal towards the future."
Chris Zapata Viado
May the souls of all those who perished from Sandy Hook Elementary School eternally Rest In Peace in the Kingdom of God.
Photo: Chris Zapata Viado
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Chris Zapata Viado
May the souls of all those who perished from Sandy Hook Elementary School eternally Rest In Peace in the Kingdom of God.
Photo: Chris Zapata Viado
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012
What's New - Wednesday, December 12, 2012
When To Grow And When To Cut
Companies need to be strategic about growth investments as well as strategic expense reductions. The timing of each is not always obvious.
Read more...
Create A Scalable Brand
Your brand is the core of your marketing strategy. Jackie Yeaney of Red Hat shares her thoughts on how the brand fuels marketing investments that drive revenues.
Read more...
What's Your Powerful Brand Message?
Think Local
The world is not flat. If you want to become a global business, the most important place to begin is at home.
Read more...
Inspirational Quote Of The Day
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Inspirational Quote Of The Day
"Think P.I.G. - that’s my motto. P stands for Persistence, I stands for Integrity, and G stands for Guts. These are the ingredients for a successful business and a successful life."
Linda Chandler
Photo: Searchquotes.com
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Linda Chandler
Photo: Searchquotes.com
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When To Grow And When To Cut
By HERDING GAZELLES | Karl Stark and Bill Stewart | Inc.com
Economic conditions often drive growing companies to invest on the upswing and cut on the downturn. But for the best-run companies, deciding to turn on and off growth investment is much more of a pinpoint approach than a blunt tool. In some cases, it makes more sense to cut investment in relatively good times and or sustain investment in bad times.
Photo: Shutterstock
One of our clients, a large enterprise technology provider, decided it needed to continue growth investment through the Great Recession of 2008-2010. They were fortunate enough to build up a significant cash position prior to the downturn, which gave them more options than most companies. Their market was negatively affected by the downturn in corporate technology spend during the recession, but they saw the opportunity to invest into the economic headwinds because their offering gave customers significant cost savings relative to competitive products. They had a chance to gain share while their competitors were struggling.
Another company we work with is going through some strategic cuts despite participating in a growing market. They've realized that their market has become more competitive and less profitable as it has matured. Most of their mainstream business is commoditized and the client has realized that they don't offer much of an advantage relative to their competitors.
However, in a smaller, more specialized segment of their business, they have an opportunity to make significant profits because they can offer something much more attractive than competitors. So they are cutting investment in their mainstream business while investing to significantly grow their specialized business. This will result in overall profitability growth, despite lower revenue.
Even though most businesses follow the simple rule of grow in good economies and cut in bad economies, we prefer the following approach:
Invest for growth when:
* You have access to growth capital
* You know you can create significant return on investment from investing that capital in the business--i.e., the investment will more than pay for itself in the future
* You have the opportunity to improve your competitive position in a specific market--either by enhancing your customer offer or improving your cost position -to create higher share or profitability in the future
Cut investment when:
* You don't see a clear return- i.e., you'd make just as much money or more on less revenue or there's no clear future benefit from the investment
* You see an opportunity from focusing on a limited segment of your market
* You believe that improving your profitability in the short term will better position you to invest for growth in the longer term
The mistake many growth businesses make is to believe that gaining market share is always good. Every business has profitable segments and unprofitable segments. Almost always, the most profitable segments are ones where the company is offering its customers a distinctive, advantaged offering. These are the areas that businesses can invest to fuel growth over the long term.
Read More Business Tips Articles
Economic conditions often drive growing companies to invest on the upswing and cut on the downturn. But for the best-run companies, deciding to turn on and off growth investment is much more of a pinpoint approach than a blunt tool. In some cases, it makes more sense to cut investment in relatively good times and or sustain investment in bad times.
Photo: Shutterstock
One of our clients, a large enterprise technology provider, decided it needed to continue growth investment through the Great Recession of 2008-2010. They were fortunate enough to build up a significant cash position prior to the downturn, which gave them more options than most companies. Their market was negatively affected by the downturn in corporate technology spend during the recession, but they saw the opportunity to invest into the economic headwinds because their offering gave customers significant cost savings relative to competitive products. They had a chance to gain share while their competitors were struggling.
Another company we work with is going through some strategic cuts despite participating in a growing market. They've realized that their market has become more competitive and less profitable as it has matured. Most of their mainstream business is commoditized and the client has realized that they don't offer much of an advantage relative to their competitors.
However, in a smaller, more specialized segment of their business, they have an opportunity to make significant profits because they can offer something much more attractive than competitors. So they are cutting investment in their mainstream business while investing to significantly grow their specialized business. This will result in overall profitability growth, despite lower revenue.
Even though most businesses follow the simple rule of grow in good economies and cut in bad economies, we prefer the following approach:
Invest for growth when:
* You have access to growth capital
* You know you can create significant return on investment from investing that capital in the business--i.e., the investment will more than pay for itself in the future
* You have the opportunity to improve your competitive position in a specific market--either by enhancing your customer offer or improving your cost position -to create higher share or profitability in the future
Cut investment when:
* You don't see a clear return- i.e., you'd make just as much money or more on less revenue or there's no clear future benefit from the investment
* You see an opportunity from focusing on a limited segment of your market
* You believe that improving your profitability in the short term will better position you to invest for growth in the longer term
The mistake many growth businesses make is to believe that gaining market share is always good. Every business has profitable segments and unprofitable segments. Almost always, the most profitable segments are ones where the company is offering its customers a distinctive, advantaged offering. These are the areas that businesses can invest to fuel growth over the long term.
Read More Business Tips Articles
Create A Scalable Brand
By HERDING GAZELLES | Karl Stark and Bill Stewart | Inc.com
When a company is in growth mode, it's natural to focus on operations--getting the product to the right customers and keeping those customers happy. Although operations are critical, they will only take a growing company so far. To create a truly scalable growth engine, a company needs a strong marketing strategy, with a solid brand at its core, and a supporting structure for delivering the company's core message to customers.
Jackie Yeaney is the EVP of Strategy and Global Marketing at Red Hat, a software company that has grown from a start-up in the mid-1990s to a billion-dollar open-source developer. Yeaney has led marketing strategy at a number of growing businesses including Earthlink, PGi, HomeBanc, and Delta Air Lines. Asked about how to build a thriving marketing strategy, Yeaney uses an example from nature: a growing tree.
"You need to start with the roots, which is a clear corporate strategy," she says. "This feeds the brand, which is the 'trunk' or core of your marketing strategy. The brand has to be the foundation of your growth. Then, all your investments become the 'branches' that grow from your brand."
At Red Hat, the brand is at the core of all marketing investments. This includes global marketing programs, marketing operations, marketing services, and field marketing in each of the regions. Each of these teams has become more focused, streamlined, and effective by centering their activities and investments on driving the brand message to customers. In fact, each of the field teams behave like a larger organization because of the support behind them. Much like tree branches provide nourishment from the trunk out to the growing leaves, the branches of the marketing organization reinforce the brand to customers through Red Hat's various investments.
As a company grows from a small start-up to a more complex organization, its marketing investments often grow in proportion to revenue. This approach can lead to complex and often disjointed marketing structures. At Red Hat, Yeaney found that as the company grew, new customer acquisition became paramount. This led to a larger marketing organization that quickly lost sight of the core customer value proposition. Each of the branches of the marketing organization were telling the Red Hat story in their own words and their own way. Focusing the organization on a clear and simple brand strategy created more effective results in the field with individual customers.
All growing companies want to invest more as they grow and continue their growth trajectory. Building a solid brand strategy is essential to providing a foundation for future marketing initiatives. After all, branches can't be healthy on their own--they need a strong trunk to fuel their growth.
Read More Business Tips Articles
When a company is in growth mode, it's natural to focus on operations--getting the product to the right customers and keeping those customers happy. Although operations are critical, they will only take a growing company so far. To create a truly scalable growth engine, a company needs a strong marketing strategy, with a solid brand at its core, and a supporting structure for delivering the company's core message to customers.
Jackie Yeaney is the EVP of Strategy and Global Marketing at Red Hat, a software company that has grown from a start-up in the mid-1990s to a billion-dollar open-source developer. Yeaney has led marketing strategy at a number of growing businesses including Earthlink, PGi, HomeBanc, and Delta Air Lines. Asked about how to build a thriving marketing strategy, Yeaney uses an example from nature: a growing tree.
"You need to start with the roots, which is a clear corporate strategy," she says. "This feeds the brand, which is the 'trunk' or core of your marketing strategy. The brand has to be the foundation of your growth. Then, all your investments become the 'branches' that grow from your brand."
At Red Hat, the brand is at the core of all marketing investments. This includes global marketing programs, marketing operations, marketing services, and field marketing in each of the regions. Each of these teams has become more focused, streamlined, and effective by centering their activities and investments on driving the brand message to customers. In fact, each of the field teams behave like a larger organization because of the support behind them. Much like tree branches provide nourishment from the trunk out to the growing leaves, the branches of the marketing organization reinforce the brand to customers through Red Hat's various investments.
As a company grows from a small start-up to a more complex organization, its marketing investments often grow in proportion to revenue. This approach can lead to complex and often disjointed marketing structures. At Red Hat, Yeaney found that as the company grew, new customer acquisition became paramount. This led to a larger marketing organization that quickly lost sight of the core customer value proposition. Each of the branches of the marketing organization were telling the Red Hat story in their own words and their own way. Focusing the organization on a clear and simple brand strategy created more effective results in the field with individual customers.
All growing companies want to invest more as they grow and continue their growth trajectory. Building a solid brand strategy is essential to providing a foundation for future marketing initiatives. After all, branches can't be healthy on their own--they need a strong trunk to fuel their growth.
Read More Business Tips Articles
What's Your Powerful Brand Message? Think Local
By SERIAL CEO | Margaret Heffernan | Inc.com
It's become fashionable to think that the world is flat and small. Every business can serve the world, Tom Friedman famously argued, and therefore place really doesn't matter any more. But is it true?
Consider these facts:
2% of voice phone calls last year crossed borders; if you include Internet telephony, the biggest number you get is 7%
3% of the world's population is first-generation immigrants
10% of global investment was foreign direct investment
20% of global GDP derives from exports
10% to 15% of Facebook friends do not reside in the same country
These data, from Pankaj Ghemawat, a strategy professor at IESE Business School, don't describe a flat, universalized world but a highly localized one. Place now doesn't matter less--it matters more than ever. His data also suggest that, as far as worldwide markets are concerned, there's still a vast area of untapped opportunity. But the strength of business starts locally.
Real Madrid and Manchester United have become phenomenally successful and wealthy football teams not by eschewing their locale but by emphasizing it.
Italian fashion maintains its luster and its margins not by outsourcing manufacturing to China but by using and showcasing local textiles and intricate handiwork.
Emma Bridgewater ceramics has become fashionable and remained pricey because it is still made by hand in the historic home of British pottery, Stoke-on-Trent.
Or, as The Economist pointed out recently, the unique strength of Scandinavian crime fiction is its setting.
What all of this suggests is that successful brand building has a lot to gain by nurturing and articulating local roots. If you want to become a global business one day, the most important place to start is at home.
Read More Business Tips Articles
It's become fashionable to think that the world is flat and small. Every business can serve the world, Tom Friedman famously argued, and therefore place really doesn't matter any more. But is it true?
Consider these facts:
2% of voice phone calls last year crossed borders; if you include Internet telephony, the biggest number you get is 7%
3% of the world's population is first-generation immigrants
10% of global investment was foreign direct investment
20% of global GDP derives from exports
10% to 15% of Facebook friends do not reside in the same country
These data, from Pankaj Ghemawat, a strategy professor at IESE Business School, don't describe a flat, universalized world but a highly localized one. Place now doesn't matter less--it matters more than ever. His data also suggest that, as far as worldwide markets are concerned, there's still a vast area of untapped opportunity. But the strength of business starts locally.
Real Madrid and Manchester United have become phenomenally successful and wealthy football teams not by eschewing their locale but by emphasizing it.
Italian fashion maintains its luster and its margins not by outsourcing manufacturing to China but by using and showcasing local textiles and intricate handiwork.
Emma Bridgewater ceramics has become fashionable and remained pricey because it is still made by hand in the historic home of British pottery, Stoke-on-Trent.
Or, as The Economist pointed out recently, the unique strength of Scandinavian crime fiction is its setting.
What all of this suggests is that successful brand building has a lot to gain by nurturing and articulating local roots. If you want to become a global business one day, the most important place to start is at home.
Read More Business Tips Articles
Monday, December 10, 2012
Inspirational Quote Of The Day
"To allow the Universe to move you in your life to happier and better things, you are going to need to look around you and appreciate the good things here and now. Seek the beautiful things and count the blessings of where you are. Dissatisfaction will not bring the happier and the better into your life. Dissatisfaction roots you to the spot where you currently are, but appreciation for what you have attracts the happier and better to you. Remember that you are a magnet! Appreciation attracts appreciation!"
From The Secret Daily Teachings by Rhonda Byrne
Photo: The Secret Facebook Page
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From The Secret Daily Teachings by Rhonda Byrne
Photo: The Secret Facebook Page
Read More Inspirational Quotes
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Inspirational Quote Of The Day
"The most important thing you can do to achieve your goals is to make sure that as soon as you set them, you immediately begin to create momentum. The most important rules that I ever adopted to help me in achieving my goals were those I learned from a very successful man who taught me to first write down the goal, and then to never leave the site of setting a goal without first taking some form of positive action toward its attainment."
Tony Robbins
Photo: mysanantonio.com
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Tony Robbins
Photo: mysanantonio.com
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