Tag Archives: Strategic management

January 28, 2014 · 9:40 am

Turn Turn Turn

I woke up to the sad news that Pete Seeger has passed. He was a giant of American music, influencing and inspiring many music greats. In the case of Bruce Springsteen, that influence was so great The Boss recorded an album of songs Seeger made popular. It seems appropriate that this TunesDay, we look at one of Pete’s most popular songs. Here is the version most of us know:

For Turn Turn Turn, Seeger often said all he did was write some music and six words (actually, one word repeated) since the lyric is from the Book Of Ecclesiastes.  That sort of humility (and humor) extended into his sense of community.  You never went to a Pete Seeger show unless you were prepared to sing, and I can’t remember ever not knowing many of his instantly familiar songs – If I Had A Hammer, Where Have All The Flowers Gone and many others.  While The Byrds made today’s song a hit, many others recorded it as well.  I think that’s so in part because of the music and mostly because of the message which is one of those universal truths that apply to business as well as to our non-business lives.

There is a time to every purpose; everything has a season but that time will come and go.   That’s the song distilled down and it’s something we often overlook in business.  If you don’t actively embrace change, you probably have very little chance to do well.  It’s not particularly difficult to look around and see those industries with outdated business models and those which have sprung up to fill the voids left by those businesses not moving forward.  The music business itself is still struggling to turn, as is any content business that clings to the old ways and sues their customers.

Change isn’t something to be feared in business.  New markets emerge, new product categories are developed.  It’s something that, as the song points out, is GOING to happen.  Change is the catalyst that moves business forward.  We can choose to embrace it or to resist it.  Your call.

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January 27, 2014 · 9:33 am

Small Guys, Big Voices

I spent part of the weekend getting caught up on everything going on across the various social networks to which I belong.

Facebook logo Español: Logotipo de Facebook Fr...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s an impossible task, by the way.  It’s really the epitome of living in the moment because one can’t ever really get “caught up” – a post from a week ago is so…last week, I guess.  In any event, it got me thinking about how social media keeps changing and how what I tell clients about optimizing their use of that channel needs to change as well.

Sometimes I think the Internet should be called “The Great Equalizer,” since it puts the small guys on an even footing with the big guys.  It may seem to you as if every company/brand/retailer you know is on Facebook and you’re right: 92% of them use it.  The majority of them are on YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and publish some sort of blog.  Unlike regular advertising, a bigger budget doesn’t assure you of bigger visibility.  If as a smaller business you’re going to be good at social media and conduct what some term “social commerce” it’s pretty obvious that you can’t outspend the big guys in your category.  You need to outsmart them with great content, and make wise choices about where to devote resources, both human and financial.

I’ll admit to have hardly ever clicked on an ad on a social site.  I do, however, read posts from brands all the time and once in a while I’ll click-through those to find something that’s piqued my interest.  I’ve even bought something as a result.  I’m not alone.  According to Internet Retailer 2014 Social Media 500, which ranks online merchants on the percentage of site traffic they receive from social networks:

  • Monthly referral traffic to e-commerce sites from Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube increased 42% in 2013 to 51.5 million monthly unique visitors from 36.3 million.
  • Social commerce sales retailers raked in, that is, revenue derived from those visitors, jumped nearly 63% to $2.69 billion from $1.65 billion.
  • Spending on social ads by 40 retailers that supplied data increased 400% from 2012 to 2013.

It’s the small guys driving those numbers.  The challenge for them – and maybe for you – is to overcome the clutter in every user’s social landscape. That clutter in not the only issue. The fact that only a tiny fraction of what you post appears in your fans’ news feeds means that you must get the user to seek you out and to do so often enough that the algorithms see you as a close enough “friend” to put your news in those “top news” feeds.  You up to the task?

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January 23, 2014 · 11:40 am

Feeling The Love

I read something the other day that got me thinking.

Advertising

(Photo credit: Wrote)

Businesses spend over $200 Billion on advertising and yet surveys show that only 4% of customers trust advertising as a source of information about products and services.  I’ve written about this before and how word of mouth, consumer review sites, and other social media are far more important these days in many purchase decisions than is good old advertising.

Think about your own shopping habits.  You are interested in something, and the bigger the purchase (TV, technology, a car) the more likely you are to research the heck out of it.  Anyone you know bought something major without asking around or checking it out?   Much of the time, that “checking out” process happens in a physical store but many of us window shop online as well.  Maybe it’s advertising that precipitates the desire for a product but it’s what happens next that sells it.

I was in an unfamiliar store the other day and couldn’t find something.  I asked an employee who was replenishing the shelves where I might find the item, fully expecting an “aisle 5” sort of response.  Instead, he put down his box and walked me over to where the item should have been.  When it wasn’t there, he said “wait here” and went in the back to find me what I needed.  I was feeling the love and this store will be a regular part of my shopping.  Yes, it was advertising that got me in but had he just directed me to an aisle I would have left the store empty-handed, unlikely to return.

Maybe “customer love programs” needs to be a budget item.  Many retailers cut back on floor help after the holidays while increasing advertising.  Is that backwards?  Might money spent on customer service – read that as retaining existing customers – have a better ROI than on the ads designed to attract new ones?  A happy customer might not tell everyone about how great your products are unless they’re asked, but I can guarantee a large percentage of them (studies show 95% take action) WILL tell their friends how horrible you are (79% told others) should they be unhappy with you or have a bad experience.

We all have heard the old Attention -> Interest -> Desire -> Action paradigm, or  AIDA.  Maybe we need to get “show some love” in there somehow.  Thoughts?

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