I don’t do strategy

By Jacqui-HoganNo Comments
How many times have you heard that? Maybe you have even said it yourself. Imagine what would have happened if the Greeks had said that when they were contemplating how to seize the city of Troy. There would have been no Trojan horse and many more years of misery for both them and the Trojans. In case you may be thinking that the strategy WAS the Trojan horse, here is the probable thinking that went on in the Greek camp. “Dimetri, how long are we going to sit outside Troy then? Our supplies are running low, and some of the soldiers are pretty fed up with army rations. Having boiling oil poured on them every day for months is taking its toll on morale too” “Lord Paris says we have to stay here until Troy gives Lady Helen back, you know, the one with the really pretty face. I think he wants to capture Troy too, so they can’t steal her back’ “Yeah, but our strategy...
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In search of improved company performance

By richard-battersby1 Comment
Do you suspect that your company performance could be better, but feel that finding a solution appears to be just out of your reach? In my role as mentor and business consultant I engage with many company directors, from various sectors of industry and commerce. Many of them describe how they seem to be working harder than ever at the moment, but still feel as if they are simply “treading water” . Very often they are not looking at the right measures, or they simply fail to measure the obvious. My advice to them is always to identify the key factors which will indicate good company performance. They should then establish simple systems to monitor these.  The purpose of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) is to provide a “dashboard” with which to highlight the current performance state and to forewarn of adverse trends. Even a small drift away from target may highlight the return of a known problem, or even reveal a...
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Marketing metrics and measurement

By Nigel TempleNo Comments
As the management guru Peter Drucker said: "What gets measured, gets done." How do you know what's working and what isn't - if you don't measure outputs and response rates? Here are some of the things you can think about, with regards to marketing metrics and measurement: OUTPUTS Set targets for of all your 'marketing outputs', i.e. * Blog posts * Newsletter * Press releases * Social media connections * Talks given * Networking events attended WEBSITE * Total number of indexed pages * Unique Visitors * Bounce rate * Page impressions * Popular times of day to visit your website * Average time spent on site * Page views * Referral traffic (i.e. traffic arriving from other websites such as Facebook or Twitter) * Backlinks * Number of downloads (of, say, guides) NEWSLETTER * Subscribers, open rates, click through rates, hard bounce rates (i.e. dead email address), soft bounce rates (temporarily unavailable), spam complaints, unsubscribes SOCIAL MEDIA * Social media reach * Twitter Followers, ReTweets and other mentions * Facebook connections, Likes and Follows * LinkedIn connections, conversations, meetings MEDIA RELATIONS * Number of media contacts * Number of...
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The elements of marketing success

By Nigel TempleNo Comments
"What are the elements of marketing success?" or "How successful will this be?" I am often asked these questions by business owners, managing directors and nervous investors. They may be about to launch. Or they may be about to kick their product or service hard enough so that it is, hopefully, propelled into orbit. The product or service itself is only one part of the jigsaw puzzle of success. Here are some of the other jigsaw pieces: VISION Successful people know where they are heading. They know their compass bearing. No matter what happens during their journey, they keep on course. Do you have a clear vision of your future business? If I spoke to you right now - could you describe this picture to me in detail? BUSINESS MODEL The internet, rising competition and economic turmoil have disrupted entire industries. The ubiquitous use of technology has slashed costs, made old skills irrelevant and created new opportunities for fast learners. Does your business model reflect...
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