Category Archives: Business Strategy

Being “Memorable” is the “Long Tail” of Success

Are you memorable? As a business/organization, or individual, or product, or service? People talk and share memorable… But memorable isn’t being the best of the best of the best as Will Smith so aptly quoted in his movie “Men in Black”.  No, memorable is being the one that someone remembers to tell someone else about…

“Passion” is way too UNDERESTIMATED…

“Passion” generally takes the backseat to “Promotion” – it is just way easier to promote than to build your messaging around Passion.  The path of least resistance is of course, least resistant. Take, for example, the normal Business Owner started or came into their business because of this very reason – they were passionate about…

ALL Generations use Word-of-Mouth

It happened again last week…when I was giving a speech, someone asked me who was using social media because they thought their target audience wasn’t a big user. Guess again…but that’s a topic for another day. The question I came back and asked them was, “Who is their demographic, and social media aside, do they…

Your “NEW Silver Bullet” – are you using it?

Everyone in business and beyond knows the meaning of “using a Silver Bullet” – where you use something very valuable to get something else very valuable, like a reference to get new customer/client.  It is usually used in the regard to getting a reference from someone who you can’t ask too frequently so when you…

Social Media is the “amplifier” for Word-of-Mouth

Word-of-Mouth has been around since the beginning of time – no one will every refute that fact.  While it is the most powerful form of communications – because it carries with it things like “trust” and “integrity” and “recommendations” and “confirmation” and “credibility” and a host of other such terms – it has always been…

Make the “i” in “ROi” first, then analyze the “R”

In the 100+ speeches I give every year, this one question is definitely in the “Top 5″ list of those I get asked, “What’s the ROI of Social Media?” Good question, much more difficult answer depending on the company, their strategy, goals, and expected outcomes. In all my previous training working in a “Big 5″…

What “One thing” annoys me about social media?

I had the privilege of speaking to a great group of marketing leaders from the Sr. Marketing & Operations Roundtable (MM&O) of SMPS in Seattle this week at the offices of KPFF Engineering.  Generally my audiences are their bosses – the CEOs and Business Owners of companies and organizations.  But today, I got to speak…

“Promises” – still the foundation…

This week I was in a discussion with a new client about their business strategy and how we were going to help them integrate social media to help them build more word-of-mouth and sales – a conversation I have all the time – but this time it hit me and reminded me of something that…

EJ Bartells – Leading the “laggards” with Innovation and Social Media

I just got back from Denver after giving a speech to a great management and leadership team that is part of an icon of Seattle Business – EJ Bartells.  What a great group of leaders and what a great organization that has endured countless ups and downs in the economy for over 90 years and…

Is the Sales Team the true home for Social Media?

Marketing, marketing, marketing – that seems to be all your hear about in regard to social media these days.  While no one can argue it has completely changed the way marketers have to think and act going forward (although many still haven’t adapted and believe traditional methods still work) I wanted to talk about something…