Author: Pamela Swift

Categories
Starting Up

The Grand Strategic Business Plan

grand-business-plan.jpgSitepoint.com: Executives at large corporations and entrepreneurs in emerging companies struggle with the same question: “How do I write a strategic plan that actually gets implemented?”
A solid strategic plan delivers the following benefits:
1. You focus your time and energy on activities that are most likely to achieve your goals.
2. You know how to allocate resources.
3. You put a solid strategy in place to set your business apart from the competition.
4. You can communicate your plan to employees, and hold them accountable for results.
5. You can track the results of your efforts and make mid-course corrections to get back on track if you need to.
6. You can adapt your plan to create a second business plan to raise investment capital or get a business loan.
The process of writing the plan is often more valuable than the plan itself. That’s because the process focuses your thinking, and challenges you to answer some fundamental questions about your business.
Start writing today. You can write the plan on your own, but it’s better to work with other people to test your ideas. If you have a management team, you can work with them to write your plan. I know many entrepreneurs who spend a weekend with a colleague, and they work together on each other’s plans, like a strategic retreat. Or, you can hire a consultant/coach to walk you through the process.
Remember that quote from Alice in Wonderland. Too many of us are like Alice at the fork in the road, not sure where we want to go or how we will get there. Stay out of the rabbit hole and write your plan today.
Write a Business Plan that Works [Sitepoint.com]

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Video Viral Fever


Entrepreneur Daily: When you’re designing your company’s next marketing campaign, why not take a look at YouTube first? That’s what McDonald’s did, and the results are paying off. Since McDonald’s has started airing a commercial featured on YouTube created by two Chicago men rapping about chicken nuggets, they’ve already seen increased sales in their nugget meals. “The buzz that has been generated has been substantial,” said Ken Ebo, McDonald’s Corp.’s New York marketing director. “I’ve heard radio station DJs chatting about it. You can’t pay for that.”
Before McDonald’s found it, the video was a YouTube hit with tens of thousands of viewers. The men who filmed the skit, also aspiring comedians, said they put the rap ditty together for the fun of it. Somehow, the YouTube video got forwarded to Ebo, and the rest is history. This commercial is a good example of the advertising world catching on to the advantages of viral marketing. It definitely saves in production costs, and it’s more of a sure thing. Before using the video clip, McDonald’s knew it was already a hit with the very audience they were hoping to target.
McDonald’s Viral Marketing Buzz [Entrepreneur Daily]

Categories
Entrepreneurship

Growing A Winning Company

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Found+READ: As I have discovered in my years as an entrepreneur and during the past ten years leading TIBCO Software, scaling a company requires both the discipline to follow sound strategic processes and the courage to take bold, yet calculated, risks. If you are too aggressive, your company might make imprudent choices and go out of business. If you are too slow or cautious, you might miss an opportunity. Take, for example, a champion downhill skier: if he goes too fast down the slope, he risks crashing and burning. Too slow and he might lose the race. It’s all about striking the right balance. Following are four fundamentals that founders should consider in their quest to finish first:
1. Find, and foster, top talent. Mediocrity doesn’t win Olympic medals, nor will it result in a winning company. But while hiring outstanding, dedicated people should be a given for any company founder, it is equally important to create an open environment within the organization that allows top talent to flourish.
2. Wow the crowd. Never forget that happy customers are an asset far more valuable than simply the revenue they generate. Satisfied customers are your organization’s most credible supporters – more powerful influencers than any advertisement, white paper or marketing strategy alone will ever be.
3. Know when to take short cuts. Building a company with staying power is frequently sought after yet rarely achieved. Taking short cuts can be tempting, especially when the competition is fierce, but know that not all short cuts are created equal.
4. When you see your opening, move quickly. Great companies cannot be built on process alone. As we all know, antiquated, disconnected or bureaucratic organizational procedures can stifle innovation and slow progress to a crawl. If the right decision-making infrastructure is in place, your team should feel confident enough to move quickly – even in chaotic environments – and go out and dominate a market segment.
Talent, Wow!-factor, Speed & Short-Cuts [Found+READ]

Categories
How-To Guides

How To Network Easily

network-easily.jpgEdithYeung.com: The true definition of networking is building relationship & rapport with new friends while being yourself anywhere anytime. Here is my 7 Rules of Networking Made Easy:
1) Ask questions. The truth is everyone loves to talk about themselves. When I say ask questions, I don’t mean what is your name or what do you do for living types of questions. I meant real questions that bring up the past, the feeling, the experience and passion out of your new friends. Vice versa, when someone ask you: ‘How are you?’ Don’t just say I am fine then stop there. Speak with sincerity and put some context to your fineness. For Example: I am doing great because I just closed a BIG deal in San Francisco.
2) Offer help – You can always add values to someone’s life anytime anywhere. Offering help doesn’t mean you have to spend hours of research and work overnight to make things happen. Send your new friends a thank you note with information you think they might be interested such as an intriguing article, shocking news or fun facts that could benefit them.
3) Business Cards. Always bring and offer your business cards. This does show your professionalism and you always seem prepared. If those who work for yourself; design a unique business card that make you stand out.
4) Write things down. After a good conversation, ask for their business card immediately and jot down how you can help. If the person didn’t bring their business card, ask for their contact anyway and write things down on your notebook.
5) Set goal and practice. Set goal to meet someone new person every week. Networking does take work. The more you practice the more you will get better.
6) Follow Up – If you promise someone that you will send them info. Do it within the next 24 hours.
7) Be yourself at all time. You cannot pretend to be an angel at a cocktail party and become a bitch at Starbucks yelling at the barista. You never know who is behind you waiting in line.
The 7 Rules of Networking Made Easy [EdithYeung.com]

Categories
Online Business

Pick, Click and Pop

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EcommerceGuide: Widgets are generating a lot of buzz in the industry these days as more e-tailers begin to capitalize on how these snippets of code can expand the exposure of online businesses — and make them more money.
These mini-applications generally come packaged in a little window, can be dragged and dropped onto a Web page, and offer a scaled-down version of features you would ordinarily get at a full-fledged site.
For e-tailers, this means you can, for instance, showcase your eBay listings on your social networking page, bringing your merchandise to interested shoppers who might not have found your storefront. Those who like what you’re selling can even pass your widget on to their friends. Another way e-biz owners can earn extra revenue is by using affiliate marketing widgets at their Web store sites or blogs.
In the latter case is an impressive new widget — officially launching July 23, called PopShops — that promises to make managing affiliate partnerships a snap. Simply put, you can build affiliate storefronts in three clicks: Pick from more than 15 million products from across the top four affiliate networks, click to customize the showcase of products for your site and “pop” the storefront application into your site or blog.
New Affiliate Tool Promises Pick, Click and Pop [EcommerceGuide]