Business and Finance

I was on my way home from the office
tonight and I caught an interview on the radio with Paul McCartney. Usually I’m not very in tune to these kinds of things but the title to his new album “Memory Almost Full” caught my attention. He went on to say, and I loosely quote…”When I talk to the business people in my life I always tell them…I’m an artist, I need a significant amount of empty space in my head to allow a song to find it’s way in there”. As a small business person I thought to myself “how convenient for you Paul!” A little jealous I suppose, I got to thinking about this feeling that there are no such conveniences in the small business world, and that perhaps, there should be. If we go beyond the point of “memory almost full”, or perhaps more appropriately to our technological advances, “virtual memory running low”, and lose site of the creative process could we be allowing the onslaught of technical information to “crash” our success?

What percentage of small business owners would say that they face exponentially greater demands for technical production today than they did two years ago? What percentage would have said the same thing two years before that? Even those of us (myself included) who have prided themselves on a neat and tidy worldview seem to be at a cross roads between a calm, happy lifestyle on one hand, and being consistently “frustrated” with the competition and complexity of a maturing on-line marketplace.

When it comes to the challenge of succeeding in the face of technical adversity and simultaneously successfully managing our private lives, how can we tell if we are on the right track? What can our frustrations tell us about the direction of our small business in relation to the general marketplace? Are we on information over-load or are we simply chargning down the path to success?

Continue reading ‘Memory Almost Full… Defeating Technology and Frustration!’ »

Brands can benefit from advertising in social-media space. The approaches offer a means to engage consumers, enhance brand reputation and image, build positive brand attitudes, improve organic search rankings, and drive traffic to brand locations, both on- and off-line. The steps in any advertising campaign will begin with setting campaign objectives and end with assessing the effectiveness of the strategies and tactics to determine the degree of success in accomplishing the stated objectives and to inform the next campaign. The challenge is to develop a set of measures to assess success and plan for future strategies and tactics.

At this stage of development, social-media advertising lacks the standard metrics that have served as a primary advantage for online advertising. Online advertising as a form of direct-response advertising has measurability built into its very existence. Advertisers can measure reach (the number of people exposed to the message) and frequency (the average number of times someone is exposed), and analyze site stickiness (the ability of a site to draw repeat visits and to keep people on a site) and the relative pull of creative presentations (a comparison of the ability for different creative executions to generate response). They can also monitor clickthroughs (the number of people exposed who click on an online ad or link), sales conversions (the number of people who click- through who then purchase product), and viewthroughs (the number of people who are exposed and do not clickthrough but later visit the brand’s Web site). These metrics are applicable to the use of display advertising in social spaces. If L’Oreal buys display ads on Facebook, all of these metrics are available to gauge effectiveness.

Continue reading ‘Social-media Impact: Balancing Metrics and Insight for Advertising Success’ »

Social media encompass communication possible throughout all of the forms of social communities online. Social-media communities include forums, virtual worlds, social news organizations, social opinion-sharing sites, and social networks. Social networks are built around site platforms that enable members to develop identity profiles, interact with other members, and participate in various site activities. Social networks are 2D environments with identity representation limited to one’s profile rather than by visually detailed avatars common to virtual worlds. Although interactions with others can seemingly approximate synchronous real-time communication, the messaging structure is static rather than dynamic. Networks can be thought of as utility-based tools. They are an elegant but fun way to organize content, socialize, and promote one’s self-identity.

Despite this, social networks have grown in popularity from their ability to provide a platform for information sharing, communication, and relationship development and maintenance. In a world where individuals may have reduced physical contact and heightened time spent interacting with electronic devices, social networks have evolved to provide an online platform for personal, intimate, informal neighborhood and office chatter. They offer a sense of “contact comfort” in a society where many of us spend less time with actual people than we do with machines. Contact comfort helps to meet individual needs for affiliation and socialization. Social networks meet our need for contact comfort while also providing entertainment and information sharing.

Continue reading ‘Friendvertising: Advertising and Brand Building With Social Networks’ »

Dear Wendy,

My boss made me to join this association, and I hate it. They meet early in the morning, they don’t like me, and I skip as often as I think I can get away with. How can I assert my independence and tell my boss that I’m not going to go any more?

Dear Unhappy Ms. Independent:

We’ll come to several forks in the road on this journey, so keep both hands on the wheel at all times.

First: Why did your boss “make” you join the association?

a: If she wants to brand the company within that organization, then either find a certified morning person who would love to trade you for the evening networking group she yawns through, or find a new job. (You might also see if there is a different chapter of the organization that you could transfer your membership to.)

b: If your boss used to be a member, and liked it, and she thought you would too, you can come to her with an alternative – suggest a particular luncheon meeting and tell the why the people you meet there will be better prospects and GateOpeners. (But be respectful of this group, because if your boss liked these people that means you would be complaining to her about her own friends.)

Continue reading ‘My Boss Made Me Join’ »

Chris confessed:

“I am not shy. I can talk to anybody, but I would rather be funny and amusing than taken seriously. (It is safer.) I end up ‘performing’ and make no progress. How do I get past this?”

Kim complained:

“He’s asked me five times if he can give me a quote on my insurance. So now, I just avoid him at meetings.”

Here’s what I think: I think Chris fears people will think he is like the person Kim is talking about. How unattractive.

Continue reading ‘How to Overcome the Fear of Networking’ »

Dear Wendy,

Is there an art to creating the right mix of networking activities? How do I know if I’m going to enough or the right combination?

Dear Artistic Networker;

Bravo! your instincts are correct. Successful results do indeed include both harmony and dissonance, just like an opera. Here are three components that will ensure grand reviews and encore engagements:

Think love triangle: Every opera has a 3-way. It creates a little tension, adds a little spice, without it there isn’t a story. Effective networking requires divergence too. There are 21 different types of networks: Industry specific associations, Single occupation associations, Trade associations, Close-contact associations, Charitable and civic associations, Philosophical associations… you get the picture.

Continue reading ‘Is There an Art to the Mix?’ »