Brand Hijack
February 1, 2008 by admin
Filed under Advertising, Books, Marketing
Marketing without Marketing
by Alex Wipperfurth (14200)
Companies like Starbucks, eBay, Palm and Red Bull have built multi-billion-dollar valuations without using any conventional advertising campaigns. Far from being lucky breaks, the success of these and other companies demonstrate the smart approach to building a business and a brand in the 21st century is to do what can be termed “marketing without marketing.”
More specifically, these brands create the illusion that success is happening serendipitously as driven by the users rather than as dictated by the corporation. This is good, because it means the user base feels like they’re in control of the brand. Consumers who instantly and automatically reject traditional marketing as being too intrusive respond well to the invitation to help shape what their favorite brand will mean in the future. This is the essence of marketing without marketing.
The key to building a brand nowadays is to let the market hijack your brand. The more marketplace involvement you have, the better — even if that takes your brand off in unanticipated directions. What you’ll ultimately end up with is a brand experience that is richer, better, more genuine and therefore more sustainable than anything you would have consciously developed yourself. Have the confidence to let the market decide how your brand evolves.
MBA in a Box
January 31, 2008 by admin
Filed under Books, Human Resources, Leadership, Management, Marketing, Strategy
Practical Ideas From The Best Brains in Business
Joel Kurtzman (09100)
At one level, business isn’t as difficult to master as the business schools and other sellers of educational courses would have you believe. To be successful in business, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist. In fact, if you want to be well rounded and successful, there are ten key areas you’ll need to have some knowledge and expertise in:
1. Innovation
Always keep refininig and improving the product or service you sell.
2. Sustainability
Businesses must do more than make money — thye must contribute.
3. Accounting
For capital markets to exist, accurate financial information is required.
4. Strategy
For companies, strategy is all about direction and thinking clearly.
5. Managing
Good managers learn more from the people they manage than they teach.
6. Human Resources
Smart businesses stay that way by sharing knowledge between people.
7. Leadership
Self-improvement is the foundation on which successful leadership is built.
8. Marketing
Marketing and advertising are long-term investments, not expenses.
9. Communication
Communication can mean the difference between success and failure.
10. Execution
The best way to learn is to study the slip-ups of others and avoid them.
I have asked some of the best minds in business to put down some of their best thoughts. I have asked them to be candid, open, and opinionated. I have asked them to tackle the subjects they love from perspectives that they know work. I have asked them to give readers a glimpse of how they think about what they do. My goal is to help readers shift their vantage points, shake up their thinking, and stretch their minds.
–Joel Kurtzman
The 5 Paths to Persuasion
January 30, 2008 by admin
Filed under Books, Persuasion, Sales
The Art of Selling Your Message
by Robert Miller and Gary Williams (09000)
A two-year study of 1,700 executives found that there are actually only five general types of decision making styles in use:
1. Followers (36%)
–who make decisions based on how other highly successful people have made decisions in the past.
2. Charismatics (25%)
–who get enthusiastic about new ideas but rely on others to think through all the details.
3. Skeptics (19%)
–who automatically distrust anything they hear, especially if it conflicts with their view of the world.
4. Thinkers (11%)
–who need to methodically work through all the advantages and disadvantages before making a decision.
5. Controllers (9%)
–who have to be hands-on and involved in every aspect of the decision-making process.
If you accurately identify the preferred decision-making style of the person you’re selling to, you can then tailor your sales processto provide them with more of what they need and less of what won’t influence them to act. This will ensure your message gets its best possible reception which, in turn, will lead to your being more persuasive and getting more business done.
What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School
January 29, 2008 by admin
Filed under Books, Personal Growth, Success
And Why They Can’t Make You Street Smart
by Mark H. McCormack (08900)
A business school can’t teach you how to be street-smart. You have to go out and get experience for yourself in the business world to start developing the ability to make the most of your business strengths.
Business is a competition, and any high-level, sophisticated competition is played more in the head than it is in the office. By keeping your eyes open to experiences happening all around you, and by thinking clearly about your own career and company, you can learn the effective techniques of salesmanship, negotiating skills, starting, building and running a business, managing people and getting things done.
The people making the most money in any business field are those who are at the cutting edge of their particular industry. Taking that edge requires innovative and creative thinking combined with intuitive business knowledge. The process is hard, but the payoff is worthwhile.
As an introduction to business, a Law degree or an MBA (Master of Business Administration) are worthwhile endeavors. However, as an education, both degrees are at best a foundation and worst a naive form of arrogance. The best lesson anyone can learn from a business school is an awareness of what it can’t teach you — all the ins and outs of everyday business life.
This is really about street smarts — the ability to make active, positive use of your insights, instincts and perceptions. Street smarts are simply applied people sense, the basis of any business association. Street smarts involves reading people and using that knowledge to get what you want.
Business demands innovation, of being on the leading edge of any field of business expertise. Intellect, intelligence or graduate degrees will never be substitutes for common sense, people sense and street smarts.
What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School
What They Still Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School
Think and Grow Rich
January 28, 2008 by admin
Filed under Books, Goals, Personal Growth, Wealth
The Way to Personal Achievement
by Napoleon Hill (08400)
All achievement, including every fortune ever built, have their beginning in an idea. The wealth comes from turning the idea from something we can see in our mind’s eye alone into something that serves other people, and for which they are willing to pay. This is done through auto-suggestion, organized planning, mastermind association and an inner harmony between the thoughts of your mind and the actions and achievements of your life.
You literally become and achieve what you think about all day long. To control your life, control your thoughts.
“The ladder of success is never crowded at the top.”
“Success requires no explanations. Failure permits no alibis.”
“Happiness is found in doing, not merely in possessing.”
“Anybody can wish for riches, and most people do, but only a few know that a definite plan, plus a burning desire for wealth, are the one dependable means of accumulating wealth.”