“Dynamic…Inspiring…Not for the faint of heart”

October 14th, 2009

CATAPULT-COVER_tammy-210x300Here’s what Lewis Miller of Office Source observes about my new book:

I don’t know about you, but it’s getting harder and harder for me to ignore a pattern in the stream of business advice out there these days – namely, that now is a wonderful time to set yourself apart from the competition by making a really bold commitment to being the best!

I saw it again recently in a dynamic little book by Robert L. Butt entitled The Catapult Effect: Using Short-Term Crisis to Catapult Long Term Success. In this inspiring book Butt urges all of us to tap the entrepreneurial spirit within, rally the troops and “pull out all the stops” to blast holes in the fortress that’s keeping us from our goals.

It’s not advice for the faint hearted, that’s for sure. But my own observations confirm that, during the last twelve to eighteen months, some customers have abandoned their usual suppliers due to cuts in service, and a “stripped down” approach that seems to reduce value. Are you and I among the companies getting new customers as a result – or are we among those seeing declines?

What are your observations? How are you taking advantage of the current climate? And how can we help each other “load up” our catapults? Your comments are welcome below.

And Robert Butt’s book is available as a free download from his website: www.marketingperformance.net Enjoy!

You can find Lewis’ blog here

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A quick word about the competitive environment

October 12th, 2009

icearrow“Rainy days and Mondays always get me down”– or at least they did Karen Carpenter as I grew up hearing her sing the song. Today is Monday and it’s pouring rain. I’m actually writing this blog article to waylay my having to go out and get wet delivering some printing jobs to clients. In my mailbox this morning I found a short email about competition. It conveyed some simple thoughts. See what you think about them.

  • “How good am I?” is the second question that every business owner must answer. “How good are my competitors?” is the first.
  • Like it or not, your competitors set the height of the bar you must jump.
  • It’s a weary old saying, but true, “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”

And as venture capitalist I knew once told me, “We learned quickly that the most important predictor of success is determination. At first we thought it might be intelligence. Everyone likes to believe that’s what makes startups succeed. It makes a better story that a company ‘won’ because its founders were so smart. But while it certainly helps to be smart, it’s not the deciding factor. There are plenty of people as smart as Bill Gates who achieve nothing.”

So, essentially making money is easy:

  1. Sell what people want to buy
  2. Offer it at an attractive price
  3. Occupy a high-visibility location
  4. Wave your arms and draw a crowd

Maybe you can’t have all of those, but I have never seen the combination fail. Need some help? We’re here.

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Using Crisis to Create Success!

September 30th, 2009

CATAPULT-COVER_tammy-210x300Everyday, business emergencies, crises, and disasters suddenly liberate organizations from the restraints of the institutionalized barriers to performance improvement. These events evoke powerful and dramatic responses that cannot be matched by any of the structured programs and technologies a company may currently use. They can be large or small.

Here’s an example:

When adulterated Tylenol capsules caused the deaths of seven people in September 1982, Johnson & Johnson organized a crash program to protect the public as well as to salvage its #1 brand product. One of the most critical tasks was to design a sealed package. Within seven weeks, a team of engineers and designers had developed and tested a triple-sealed package, redesigned production processes and equipment, developed new package graphics, and moved into full-scale production. Completing this series of complex tasks under normal circumstances would have taken well over one year, nearly two years. Read the rest of this entry »

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Online Business Marketing Success

September 23rd, 2009
New Online Business

New Online Business

Starting a business online can be one of the easiest things you can do. It doesn’t take much money, and with all of the free software available, it is very easy to automate every aspect of your business.
Start here with our Marketing Grader this free marketing quiz will assist your organization to get on the right track prior to making a commitment to a marketing plan that just isn’t focused.
Once you start to market, things can change very quickly. The Internet is like the Wild, Wild, West. There’s no structure to the organization of the Net, and if you don’t give your customers a way to find you, you won’t make any money from your business.

Although you will find that there are as many “guru” opinions on how to market your business online, as there are gurus, there are four methods than can help you to increase your profits very quickly and mainly involve investing your time. Read the rest of this entry »

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Three Simple, but Effective Marketing Strategies

September 21st, 2009

Integrate Your Marketing Efforts – As an internet marketing consulting firm we oftentimes find that online communications are somehow segregated from other communication vehicles. By simply integrating, or at least informing your online marketers of what is taking place online they can better help to make sure that your online efforts can benefit.

At Marketing Performance we have developed a list of seven ways that marketing programs can be better integrated. You can view our free down loadable white papers Tips on Increasing Your Marketing ROI

Develop Key Performance Indicators – Essentially key performance indicators or KPI’s are how you define success in your organization. While obviously sales is the primary metric, it is also critical to develop other metrics that allow you to measure your organization more upstream and hence develop greater predicative measurement tools that can help you pinpoint trends before they impact the bottom line. Also KPI’s can help you better analyze your marketing efforts in quantifiable ways that can provide value to the organization.

A few examples of KPI’s that we’ve helped companies integrate include measuring number of site visitors in a given sales territory or region, analyze visitor content interest (what products are the most popular and which are being ignored).

Expanded Exposure to New Markets for Free – Through a strategic use of search engines it is possible to capture new markets in ways that build long-term revenue and marketshare. Several Marketing Performance clients have actually entered brand new markets through this strategy that leveraged their current internal experience as well as long-term strategic directions.

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