Apr 5, 2010 | Branding, Communication, Innovation, Marketing, Social Media
As you wander through the blogosphere, the pre-launch hype about the ipad is astonishing.
There are many reviews, but as very few have seen one, they are all just speculation, or Apple insiders doing their bit towards the marketing blitzkrieg.
Now it is launched, and there are reports of 700,000 being sold in the first 24 hours, perhaps there may be some realism emerging, but most of those early buyers will see nothing but the “greatness” they ascribe to the Apple brand, the shortcomings will not be noticed.
Those of us who build brands are in awe of the branding skills of Apple, but should remember their overnight branding success came after 30 years, and included some pretty ordinary stuff amongst the brilliance. Now their innovation machine is almost as well oiled as their marketing machine, but how are they going to hype away the advantage Kindle holds over access to books and magazines, or will they just accept that ipad will need to connect to Amazon to be competitive, and move on.
I suspect not, rather the other functionality will be the focus of attention, and shortcomings will be managed away.
Mar 30, 2010 | Innovation, Management, Social Media
A while ago, I blogged about the ownership of IP, the individual Vs the employer, and quoted the case of a designer who left Mattel for their competitor, MGA Entertainment, created a competitor to “Barbie” and ended up in court over IP ownership, and lost.
Now one of the key innovation drivers at Apple, Tony Fadell creator of the ipod, is leaving Apple for alternative pastures.
Steve Jobs is not known as benevolent, so we can expect some fireworks, and perhaps some further definition of the ownership rights of individuals who dream up great “stuff” and of their employers . This may not all be in the public domain, as sensibly the parties will have tied up the IP ownership & “money stream” issues, but we will watch with interest, and be certain that there has been some sweat in the Apple boardroom.
Mar 30, 2010 | Communication, Leadership, Social Media
How do companies harness the power of social networking to the benefit of their businesses?.
It is simply a fact that employees will go into facebook, twitter, and so on, using company time and resources, rather than trying to stop them, which King Canute found hard to do with the tide, figure out how to harness it.
In many cases, this will be confronting, and require a change of attitude in the executive suite, but employees will rarely publicly dump on their employer, unless it is really deserved, in which case you should thank them for bringing the issue to your attention, not belt them for telling the truth. Employees are always your best advocates, (and conversely, harshest critics)let them advocate!
Here are a few thoughts:
- Encourage employees to post and link back to the companies site
- Provide a forum for their comments, on your intranet, a free newsletter site, or a facebook group location
- Ensure senior management engagement in the process, they are in a position to make the changes called for, but on line, are just another offering commentary, so not as threatening as in the normal course of events
- Reward good suggestions, and follow up on failures that are highlighted, and address the causes, and be transparent about both.
- Engage, motivate and lead them, so the time spent on social sites at work is not sorting out their personal calendar, and reviewing the Saturday night shenanigans, but adding value to the business.
When you are doing all of the above, the time employees spend on the web will be an investment from which you will receive a great return.
Mar 29, 2010 | Communication, Marketing, Social Media
There are lots of web site optimisation tools around, including the free ones from Google which do a pretty good job, and there are many people around who will promise you the world by next Sunday. However, the tools are best used in selectively, conjunction with the situation. Remember the old saying, “to a hammer, every problem is a nail”
To optimise a site is a process of continuous improvement, starting with the objective of the site. One that is dedicated to sales will be subtly different to one that is there to spread an idea, or point of view. So, a simple process:
- Have a clear site objective, and be unambiguous about :
- How it adds value to you
- How it adds value to your “target” web browsers.
- Determine where your “visitors” are coming from
- Determine where they land
- Make sure the landing pages have the beginning of a trail that leads further into the process you have set out to achieve.
- Track how long they stay, and where they go, both on the site and into links you may provide
- Establish performance measures
- Continuously improve by experimenting and tracking outcomes.
- This is a creative process before it is a mechanical one, so don’t just leave it to the techos.
- In this connected world, site optimisation is also a window into your business, so make sure the visitors you get are the ones you want, and they like what they see. There is no point attracting those to whom you can add no value.
Mar 25, 2010 | Social Media
As a young bloke, I was given a “XY” graph that had “urgent, not urgent, important, not important” on the axes as a personal management tool.
I was advised to concentrate my effort on the “Important, not urgent” quadrant, as those are the things that will make the real difference, add the sustainable value, and told that things in the “urgent not important” quadrant are the ones would absorb all the time if allowed, and it would take only personal discipline to manage the allocation of time, and expectations of others.
Now we have a myriad of new distractions in the urgent but not important (but perhaps compelling?) quartile, the mass of stuff on the net, and the social applications to absorb our time, the task has multiplied, perhaps by logarithmic rates.
Tom Fishburne, as usual, collects the problem into one “iprocrastinate” cartoon. Lovely.
Mar 23, 2010 | Branding, Management, Social Media
The phenomena of social media is one that businesses need to understand, and be ready to respond when, rather than if, it gets difficult.
The Nestle Facebook page has been overrun by new “fans” after the publicity surrounding their practices of using palm oil sourced from Indonesia from areas with questionable sustainability practices. On Twitter when I checked a short time ago there were many entries, most about the palm oil, and all of them unhappy.
Justified or otherwise, businesses need to be on the front foot to be able to respond positively, and proactively to the potential of social media to undo brand integrity overnight.
The destruction of a brand, or in Nestles case, many brands is much easier than their construction,
At some point, all organizations will come under the scrutiny of groups utilizing the tools of the social media if they leave any openings at all, and these groups are currently better organised, better focused, and better able to mobilise support. Being proactive is no longer the task that should be given to the graduate trainee, but should be a board issue, as it is a major risk to the Intellectual capital and therefore value of a business.
