Management and Marketing

Another good article sent to me by my boss this week – unlocking the elusive potential of social networks

https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Marketing/Digital_Marketing/Unlocking_the_elusive_potential_of_social_networks_2623?gp=1

One of the most useful sentences in this article is: “A commitment to being useful in social-media activities means a commitment to creating only high-quality interactions.”  A lot of people go into social networking with the wrong approach (indeed they miss the ‘interactions’ part altogether).  (more…)

Here’s an article sent to me by my boss this week:

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Marketing/Strategy/A_new_way_to_measure_word-of-mouth_marketing_2567?gp=1

It’s on how to measure word of mouth marketing.   (more…)

Marketing is often confused with ‘advertising’, the communication of and promotion of products and services to would-be customers.  But the discipline of marketing goes beyond that.  Marketing concerns all activities that are necessary for the planning and delivery of your company’s products and services, from the point of production (or performance) through to the customer, in order to satisfy the customer’s needs and meet the company’s objectives. (more…)

Marketing is often confused with advertising, but in reality, advertising is only a small part of marketing.  Marketing is about supporting and protecting the value cycle – what’s that? I’ll explain in the context of one of the companies that I work with.  Our teams include:

• A customer team (phones, email support)
• A QC (quality control) team
• A marketing team – we actually call them the value team
• A communications team
• A research and development team

The value cycle

The value cycle is about finding out what jobs people are trying to do, creating something to do the job better than they have already, communicating why what we made was so fab, delivering it to them and then making sure they stay happy.  As a company, we do this not just for website customers but also for other kinds of ‘customers’: employees, researchers etc. (more…)

When you’re evaluating a new business opportunity/business idea, it helps to consider each of the P15 in turn, looking at what the current situation is and where you can make a difference. I created this summary (below) of the P15 recently, as part of a proposed new template for our value plans. Our value plans are what we use to evaluate whether a new business idea is worth doing, and we’ll look at anything from market research and pricing to the unique selling point (USP) of the opportunity.

This is about looking at what’s currently out there and considering how you can do better.  It’s about looking at where you can and can’t make an impact in comparison with your potential competitors. (more…)

If you’re trying to decide whether to go ahead with a project, pricing is probably a major factor.  When you’re making your calculations, don’t forget to consider (1) set up costs, (2) running costs and (3) pricing.  Set up costs should include both equipment and the time involved in setting up the project – if, for example, you have to put 2 members of your team on a project for six months, then the cost is half a year’s wages for each (plus any bonuses).  I created the tables below for our mini value plans (our value plans are used to assess whether an idea is worth doing or not). (more…)