Business Innovation in a downturn in 2009

Afternoon all,

It seems my writing style/ability has surprised some people who should know better - so looks like this blog is creating a discussion of sorts - hopefully it will move so that people actually post their comments on this site.

OK, today's subject matter is that of partnering up in a commercial sense. In these times of so called economic gloom all companies (large or small) need to look at how they can make a difference to their bottom line.

Whether this is looking at costs or income, the facts are the same - everyone needs to be innovative in terms of looking after their business. Some companies will cut costs, others will increase spend, some might look at alternative ways of reaching their audience (social media being the topical case in point) but the key question is which way is the best way.

If you take the old perceived wisdom of

1. identifying your targets,
   
2. running a specific campaign,
   
3. measuring the impact of that campaign
4. then following up the leads
5. and push for sale

then it seems like a lot of wasted effort to hit that magical 1% of target that will result in a sale. The new way seems to suggest embrace your network, grow your network and see where it leads - which to many is an equal waste of time.

However if you really step back and think about it, it is exactly how most humans behave anyway. Imagine that you are a parent wondering which school to send your beloved child to - how do you go about that, well I'd suggest that you will probably

1. Ask friends and locals about the best schools
2. Check Ofstead reports / league tables (to either confirm what's been said or to create a list of possibles)
   
3. Do some online research (starting with Google probably)
4. Read school / local authority literature/websites
   

Not much different to the on-line world - or asking your network for a recommendation, if they have none doing an on-line search, and that fails then responding to any advertising / links you come across.

So what does innovation in a recession mean?

1. Firstly it is about a new considered relationship with your potential clients - especially if you think that 4 years ago YouTube, Facebook, Flickr & Twitter didn't exist, and that Twitter is growing 40% week on week.
   
   
2. The sales funnel is now different, it is about
   

• Creating Content (Content is King!)
• Generating Conversations
• Converting to Exchanges
• Meaning new trusted relationships

To me, this means looking at extending your business network as wide and as far as possible - as you never really know who finds you interesting, or indeed who you might surprise with your ability to write.

It means generating as much relevant content as possible (stories, PR, Tweets, Blogs etc) and having as many face to face conversations as poss. This might mean forming informal relationships with people/companies - for instance a client of ours has started pushing events, the events company rang me to see if I wanted to attend, we spoke (got on) and I spoke about how bad their site was. The person then suggested I put that in writing - which I did. This led not to doing the events site, but a very high profile charity site for the MD's famous friend.

Another innovation is to ensure people can find you - when did you last Google your own name?

Finally, and this I think is the interesting element - find like minded companies and huddle together - its warmer in the cold if you huddle. We are looking at formalising some company relationships - so that we create more opportunities to have that face to face conversation, as well as making our offering stronger and perhaps most importantly being able to offer your clients a solution that they might need - as per the MD's famous friend.

Next question is how do you manage all those relationships effectively - don't know the answer to that yet, but that's where one of you can contribute and initiate your own content.

Hope that made sense

Tony

The line...

It has always made me laugh in marketing circles - the line - you know

• below the line
• above the line
• through the line
• online
• offline

Probably a few more lines out there, but has anyone ever asked what is the line?

There must be a point at which offline & online meet - or below the line becomes above the line. I know that talking about a line must have been a very clever analogy at one stage - but it is time for the line to go, and be replaced.

Now I'm certainly not clever enough to come up with a newer better description - and to be fair it took a little time for it to become mainstream business language, but surely someone, somewhere can take this across the line and give us all a better line to use.

As it is Friday (and there are probably people out there in blog land who really really care about the line and its meaning) here is the best (and shortest) explanation I could find - though if you are really interested here is the link to Wikipedia. Please note the description below is not associated with me in any way.

"..So whether the best direction for our client is above the line (brand), below the line (direct), through the line (brand and response), online or offline, we have the expertise..."

- Zed Media

That's it - no more talk about the line - for those, sick to death of the line like me - try these

• How a line should be used

• How a line can evolve
  
• How a simple line can bite back
  

Ok, that's me - no more mention of lines from me ever

Enjoy your weekend

Corporate Social Responsiblity Funds

Why is it that everything, once you scratch the surface isn’t as it seems.

I should have realised that from my Hotel Catering days - if you've ever worked at a hotel, you'll know what I’m talking about - but the front of house always looks great, but behind the scenes in the staff room, or the service corridors it always looks like the worst hostels you’ve ever been lucky enough to visit.

Still it doesn’t stop me from judging a hotel by what they want you to see, rather than what they don’t want you to see!

Same happened with football. In 1999 I had the luckiest job in the world, which involved getting paid to interview and spend time with the 12 modern footballing greats (Cantona, Schmeichel, Rush, Wright, Zola etc).

It was all for a project called the FA Premier League Hall of Fame and gave me exclusive access to the club, the agents and the players themselves. Though it a chance for me to live the dream, it didn’t work out that way, as it mean I knew too much – and as a result watching the game became a collection of stories about things that had happen – you know this person said that, that club are this, did you know such and such is sleeping with such and such.

As soon as that element of my work was finished, I could get back to know little about the people and enjoying the romance of the game.

I’ve always had a theory that football to men is like soap operas to women – it’s more about the chat around the game, the need to gossip potential sales, to follow the sub plot (‘..Whether Berbatov’s purchase has meant that Tevez won’t stay with the club..’) – the actual football is the fix, but the industry around the game is the craving.

Imagine, if you were a massive EastEnders fans – sitting in on a script writing debate – dream day out one might think, but then they start debating a storyline for one of your favourite characters which will unfold over the year. Now not only do you know the secret (which means no build up for the year while they build up) but you also know what they could have chosen prior to that actual secret being chosen.

As you may know, I've been working with the Damilola Taylor Trust for the past couple of years, and just like football, when you get to look behind the scenes things are never quite what they seem. The trust itself is one that truly strives to make a difference and it a massive credit to Richard Taylor who has worked so hard to establish it. It is an organisation that seems to work equally well in a corporate environment or out on the street. People name check it regularly, the government court Richard’s approval and even make him the official envoy to the Prime Minister for Knife Crime – but yet behind it all stands 3 or 4 people – all striving to make a difference. Clever people who can engage on sort of levels, people who can innovate, who understand what needs to be done – but people for all their connections, ideas, respect cannot effectively target funds.

We hear about companies having large social corporate funds, though I suspect with the current recession this will be cut (and yes I used the ‘R’ word).

The point is, again scratching behind the PR surface, is corporate social responsibility about actually making a difference, or is it about ROI?

We all know from a PR perspective, it is about Company A putting back into the community, but I wonder if there was no publicity attached, but a single life was saved whether Company A would actually still invest.

Anyway I’m just getting into this blogging – hope you find the piece slightly thought provoking and worth a revisit.

NOTE:
The views expressed in this blog are my own, and nothing to do with the Damilola Taylor Trust.