Archive for the ‘Management’ Category
Fotobabble – A Social Media Innovation
We continue to talk with entrepreneurs and thought leaders about why, how and when to leverage social media. Now, we’ve got something special: In BusinessCast #145 — Fotobabble, we get the inside scoop from an entrepreneur who is actually launching what could be the next social media tool.
And, while there are several common themes whenever you’re developing/rolling-out a product or service, bringing a new social media tool to market has some unique business lessons and challenges. Listen to BusinessCast #145 and find out what you can take away from Fotobabble’s innovation in action.
Reminder: Next month, the world class event, eMetrics Summit, is coming to Toronto. If you’re a leader or manager looking to truly leverage your online presence, you ask yourself the following questions:
- What online metrics should we collect?
- When should we collect them?
- Where should we collect them?
- Who should collect/interpret them?
- How much time/effort/resource should we spend on online metrics?
- How should/can these metrics integrate with offline metrics?
- What do these online metrics truly mean?
- How can we apply the learnings from these online metrics?
The eMetrics Summit helps you get a handle on answering all of these critical issues.
Seth Godin and the Art of Marketing
Seth Godin is probably best known for being the father of “permission marketing”. But, he’s also the World’s most renown marketing “thinker”. His books are international best sellers and senior marketers from across every industry flock to listen to his provocative analysis, insights and predictions. In BusinessCast episode #144, we caught up with Seth at the Art of Marketing conference in Toronto.
As the chosen podcast media guest and sponsor, we also gathered key insights from the event’s other leading speakers/authors, Max Lenderman and Frances Cole Jones.
If you missed out on the Art of Marketing event, watch out for the eMetrics Summit — touring the World’s major centers. The conference remains the gold standard for helping entrepreneurs get a handle on measuring the business value of the Internet’s many platforms (e.g. websites, email, social media and podcasts) and popular tools (e.g. Twitter, YouTube, etc.).
Choosing the Right Buyer
You’re being courted by a handful of companies that want to purchase your business. Wow! That’s an exciting scenario that many entrepreneurs strive for and consider essential validation that they’ve been successful.
But, the truth is that rather than being an easy destination in itself, this is a critical cross-roads that takes a great deal of determination, patience and focus. The countless number of issues that you need to address include:
- How do you choose between potential buyers?
- Is this the right time to sell?
- What’s your role going to be once the purchase is complete?
- What are your key measures of a success?
- When should you walk away from the deal?
- Who should you involve in the selling process?
- What are the likely surprises that you’ll face?
To get the answers to these questions in BusinessCast #142, we interview Chris Carder, President of Thindata 1:1 — one of North America’s leaders in multi-channel and database-driven marketing solutions.
In March of 2008, Transcontinental purchased the company that Chris and his partners built. So, in BusinessCast #142 Chris provides practical hands-on insights and candidly shares his pre-purchase concerns and post-purchase lessons. This is essential listening for any entrepreneur who ever thinks about selling their company.
*A reminder of upcoming (Toronto) events critical for all business leaders:
- The Art of Marketing (March, 2010)
- Emetrics Marketing Optimization Summit (April, 2010)
The Boss’s Survival Guide
In BusinessCast episode #141, internationally renowned business author Bob Rosner sits down with Robert and me to share insights from his updated best seller, “The Boss’s Survival Guide“. Always presented with a great sense of humour, Bob’s advice ranges from the contentious to the sublime.
But, whatever type of business you are leading, chances are you’ll find at least one practical business nugget that you can begin implementing tomorrow in BusinessCast episode #141.
*Reminder of upcoming (Toronto) events critical for all business leaders:
- The Art of Marketing (March, 2010)
- Emetrics Marketing Optimization Summit (April, 2010)
A New Breed of Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs are evolving — successfully adopting new business models, new technologies and finding new ways of penetrating markets. That’s why in BusinessCast #140, Robert and I sat down with Jessica Herrin, Founder and CEO of Stella & Dot. Jessica is a successful serial entrepreneur perhaps best known for building and growing The Wedding Channel.
Well, Jessica’s entrepreneurial acumen is back in full force with Stella & Dot — a wildly successful direct sales business that has grown quickly and profitably by anyone’s definition. In practical terms that means she’s seen her workforce grow to over 5000 engaged, committed and enthusiastic members (called “Stylists”) in under three years! Much of this success is because Stella & Dot has tapped into, and enabled, a new breed of entrepreneur.
Then we spoke to one Toronto-based “Stylist” to get the inside scoop into this new breed of entrepreneur. The findings are inspiring for any business leader and manager!
Listen to BusinessCast #140 and you’ll learn some of the keys to Stella & Dot’s rapid success. Then, visit Stella & Dot as well as the website of our guest stylist to see how Stella & Dot actively uses social media and web technologies to support their growing workforce.
Finally, using the latest Internet technologies and tools is a critical part of Stella & Dot. But, if you’re like most entrepreneurs, you need to get a handle on some key online metrics before truly optimizing your online/social media efforts. In just a few weeks, many of North America’s leaders in “e-metrics” will gather in Toronto to share their insights and stories for entrepreneurs at the Emetrics Summit. Robert and I will be there as accredited members of the media. Let us know if you plan to attend and we’ll meet up.