How will Australia regulate for ‘Culture’
As a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, I look forward to the events put on by the institute, and attend when I can, when the topic of discussion is of particular interest. Annually there is a general 'Director Update', the 2016 version is...
Things I do not do to make money from blogging
StrategyAudit has been going now for quite a long time, almost 1,500 posts to date, averaging between 2 & 3 a week. Every month there are around 1,000 unique visitors, who consume on average 1.8 posts each visit. By some standards these are pretty modest numbers,...
Should I use Facebook as an advertising medium?
Once again yesterday I found myself in a conversation both extolling and deriding the utility of Facebook as a small business marketing tool. Seems to happen a lot that small businesses hear (urban myth?) of someone making a fortune just using Facebook and think 'Why...
7 sources of great ideas
Where do these great ideas come from, why are some organisations just more innovative than others?. I have pondered those questions for years as a corporate executive and as a consultant, and it seems to me that there are several points that are common in the...
Classic marketing strategy: Before & After
The classic ad for weight loss products is to show a before and after. It also works for make-up, home decoration and renovation, and a myriad of other products, What about yourself, your personal branding? Works there too, and it is a pretty important product....
4 easy questions to help get stuff done
Taking action is the hard part of getting stuff done, the talk is easy, but when the rubber has to hit the road, then you see who is really adding any value. The 4 simple questions I ask are: Who is responsible? Who is accountable? Who is to be consulted? Who is to be...
How to make your first impression work for you.
'A picture tells a thousand words' and 'You do not get a second chance to make a first impression' are two clichés that we all accept for good reason: they are true. Why is it than that so many of us fail to present ourselves in a good light on line? A few facts to...
Why do customers buy from you?
Last week I found myself in another conversation trying to make the case to the owner of a medium sized manufacturer that his best shot at survival was to focus obsessively on a niche where he could add value in some way to customers that his competitors could not...
Rethinking the 6 challenges of local advertising.
Local businesses only need local advertising. Right? Usually. So the choice is then between local analogue adverting and digital or a mix. How do you make the choices when you are a small local business with a small marketing budget. (The reality is that every...
8 rules for successful networking
Networking has become a 'must-do' for those in small business. As a group we have bought into the value of networking, being able to meet those with whom you may have something in common on neutral round, have a conversation, build a rapport, and perhaps do some...