4 simple measures of Digital Marketing Effectiveness for small business
Marketing has always been a bit like juggling. Lots of balls in the air, and everything seems fine until… it isn't. Digital has just added significant complication, try juggling on a unicycle. Many small businesses shy away from measuring the effectiveness of their...
12 common & avoidable marketing mistakes I see small businesses repeating.
How true is the old chestnut "those who do not know history are destined to repeat it"? It is an unfortunate truth, but in a business environment where 75% of new businesses fail, and 61% of actively trading businesses have no employees, it may be understandable. The...
Has Woolworths done enough?
I have been around long enough to see Coles and Woolworths swap places a couple of times. It seems that just like most blood sports, there is room only for one at a time at the top. This is understandable given that between them they have 70% plus of grocery sales,...
How desperately does politics need a strategic makeover?
The train smash that doubled as the recent Australian federal election, and more tellingly, the 'cluster-intercourse' (politeness overcame me) that is the US presidential race have something in common. They both lack any sort of the foundations for prosperity that we...
4 questions every business owner should ask themselves. Now.
In principal, business is simple, sell something for more than it costs you too produce it. After that it gets more complicated, but is always tangled up with the word "Value" It is a word with many meanings to different people in different contexts. How do we create...
Is technology killing advertising, and ruining our lives?
A while ago I asked the question 'Is the net killing marketing creativity' and came to the conclusion that the instant gratification now apparently demanded in all phases of our lives has indeed killed creativity. Perhaps tritely I put it down to the not so bright...
9 point plan to create your business model
One of the major things most small and medium businesses give little thought to, and which can have a major impact on their financial outcomes is their business model. There has been much written over the years, huge volumes of academic and consultant driven tomes ,...
How to build a sales process for your human salesforce.
These days great sales people, real ones, those that go and talk to customers and potential customers are expensive, and hard to find. Most often in a B2B environment their role is not just closing a sale but developing a relationship that is deeper and longer term...
Social media, Wholesalers of eyeballs.
The business models of all major social media platforms require a profit, and they generate that by being wholesalers of eyeballs. They do not do it for free, any more than your wholesalers of produce at the city markets provides their service for free. Social media...
The 4 dimensions of project planning.
Lessons in project management are hard won, and stumbles can be very expensive. My hard won experience supports the contention of that great management thinker Albert Einstein, noted above. In every project that I have done that delivered sub par outcomes, at least...