Biz

Guest Post: What are Brandhabits?

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Brandhabits.net by Andy Wright

A few weeks ago I met Andy Wright (@adwrighty) during #blogchat. After we exchanged a bit of conversation, I asked him to do a guest post to explain how his blog—Brandhabits—came about. Wright’s post is below, a great explanation of the fundamentals of brand and brand habits.

When brainstorming the name for my blog, I wanted to capture a sentiment that I’ve always believed in. Successful brands rely on customers that unconditionally choose them again and again. These brands employ strategies that have become best practice, are in some cases innovative and in some cases common sense.

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Tags: Brand, brandhabits, Guest Post
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Department Meetings are a Waste of Time (there is a better way)

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Photo Credit: wynand van niekerk

Many companies still continue the outdated practice of weekly (or even daily) department meetings for passing along information (including project updates). It’s my opinion that these meetings are a complete waste of time that could otherwise be spent solving actual business problems.

The better option for passing information

This is by no means groundbreaking, but the simple solution to preventing the monumental time suck of departmental meetings is an online forum using a service like Google Wave, Ning, Facebook, or a custom install behind the firewall.

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Tags: common sense, Corp, Meetings
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We’re transparent, authentic, and on Twitter…now what?

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

photo credit: Troy Newell

I think we’ve reached the point at which if you aren’t transparent, authentic, and/or human you’ll be treated like a dirt sucking, crap-eating spammer. I think we have to start talking more about what’s next.

I realize that I’ve regurgitated some of the hackneyed language of social media in Tweets and posts. But now is the time to move beyond those second order concepts like “relationships.” We don’t need any more lists of tips to help us get more followers. We need a strategic understanding of what the real-time web will look like so that we can write our business plans and outline our strategies for community engagement.

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Tags: Business, critical thinking, Marketing, progress, snark, social media, strategy, Twitter
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3 Business Lessons From a Haircut

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Hair Saloon for Men, an Honorable Rebellion

In desperate need of a trim, I typed my zip code and “haircut” into my iPhone. The first hit pointed me “Hair Saloon for Men”—a saloon-themed “salon” for guys. I was curious (and desperate) enough to book the appointment.

Although their corporate website leaves something to be desired (hairsaloon.com), the whole experience reminded me of three critical business lessons…

1. Know who you are.

I say this with the utmost respect, but Hair Saloon is not a upscale establishment. Sure, there’s no burnt hair perm smell from the chair next to you, but there’s also not a particular emphasis on style. Think of it as Barber Shop 2.0.

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Tags: Business, critical thinking, Innovation, strategy
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Job Descriptions Can Be Stupid

Friday, October 16th, 2009

I contend that people think, act, and express their passions at work in ways that don’t always fit into rigidly-defined department or job description boundaries:

Someone on the accounting staff may be a stud PHP programmer.
Someone on the web team may also be a phenomenal print designer.
Someone in marketing may have built the next killer app in his/her spare time.

But we’re often bound by our job descriptions, forced into completing only the tasks we’re assigned in that proverbial big binder we all got on our first day. This, I think, is a shame.

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Tags: Add new tag, collaboration, HR, jobs, life, Org Comm, organization
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Seeing Marketing as Long-Term Investment (on iDea Anglers)

Friday, October 9th, 2009

When top line revenue declines (like during a recession), spending cuts often look like a great option for lifting your bottom line. You know what I’m talking about—layoffs and budget reductions.

While I think it’s financially wise to look at how we spend each of our business dollars, and while I concede that some budgets can afford to be trimmed (e.g. travel), one area I wouldn’t touch is marketing. In fact, I might expand it….

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This post is hosted in its entirety on ideaAnglers.com

Tags: critical thinking, idea Anglers, Marketing
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Don’t be “Detail Oriented.” Be “Decision Oriented.”

Sunday, October 4th, 2009

Countless job ads ask for applicants who are detail oriented. Because it’s used so much, in my opinion, “detail oriented” has become just another piece of resume word vomit.

Moreover, I don’t think it’s enough to be detail oriented. Sure it’s important to take the time to learn which details to look for, thus “orienting” yourself toward “detail” in the abstract, but I think the higher skill is the ability to make solid decisions from the details you see.

We often spend a lot of energy on the big picture decisions—which products to develop, which campaigns to create, but I think the sum of our little decisions can be just as important.

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Tags: Buisness, decisions, strategy
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