Ideas, Ideas, Ideas

I came across this person’s blog on leadership and really liked several of his articles.

http://www.thinkleadershipideas.com/

The one I really enjoyed was the one titled, “Resisting a Mood of Doom”.  I encourage you to print and read it and reflect.  I believe your attitude is very important and more important than most people know. It’s far to easy to take the doom and loom approach vs the positive approach.  Take the market.  While some take the doom approach when discussing the decline from 14,000 pts to under 7,000, others take the “what an amazing opportunity to invest for the long term.”  I like the second way of thinking.  I am not suggesting leaders are in denial. No no, not at all.  However, I am suggesting the positive energy and thinking can be catchy, can motivate and certainly help a team overcome barriers.  So let me ask this question. As we face our economy head on, are you excited about the challenge it brings you day/day and the opportunity to emerge as the best company in the world or are you scared about your day/day operation?  Do you strategize and get excited about the upside or are you focused on the negative?  What about your team?  And think about this, are you excited about the possibly of the best talent pool available in the market, perhaps ever?  Are you taking advantage with eyes open or are your eyes closed and focused only on the day/day?  Some things to think about as move into an incredible 2nd half of the year!  

http://www.thinkleadershipideas.com/leadershipideasblog/files/7doom.php

Belk Printing Technologies is one of the best Commercial Printing companies that I have had the honor to partner with, located in Pineville, NC.  By the way, they do so much more than just printing!  Check out there web site - http://www.belkprinting.com/

Speaking of commercial printing, here is a great news site if you want to stay up on what is happening in the world of commercial printing.  http://www.topix.com/business/commercial-printing

Are you in retail? Do you need a partner that can help you with creative marketing?  One of my good iGen customers in Charlotte is Creative Marketing Solutions - here is there web site… http://www.creativecms.com/

Also, check out this article on 50 good marketing ideas for those in retail. Truth is, most of these are good ideas for most industries!  http://retail.about.com/od/marketingsalespromotion/a/marketing_ideas.htm

Chris Brogan has amazing ideas for business. If you are not following him, I highly recommend you do. Here is his article on 50 ideas on how businesses can use twitter.

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-business/

Check out what Toby Bloomberg says on the subject.  If you connected with Toby, let me know!  I heard her present at AMA and she was awesome!

http://www.sunjournal.com/index.php?t=8&storyid=300880&subpub=168

Back in early December, I posted a link to MPlanet.  http://www.mplanet2009.com/marketingblog/   If you aren’t aware of the event AMA is putting on in Orlando, please visit www.mplanet2009.com because I highly recommend it. 

Well, this week, MPlanet has asked bloggers across the country to talk about one of their 4 themes for 2009!

So, I started thinking about Brand building in a digtial world.  I thought, “Scott, what is your brand?” 

We all know the importance “Brand” plays in the success of a company. We also know how difficult it can be to change a Brand image, once established. In fact, many would say our company Brand is the most important thing we have. So if Brand is so important to a business’s success, couldn’t we also argue that it is equally important to our own success, as employees? Do you think about what YOUR “Brand” is? Are you creating the “Brand U”? Well you are, whether you know it or not. Here’s some good news. Brand building in a digital world is not as challenging as you might think.

http://titus.blogs.xerox.com, featuring a section called “customer corner” where I ask my customers to leave feedback about me and my team. I also began attending seminars and industry events that were more relevant to my customers’ business than my own business. In fact, I began presenting at some of those seminars, including customer seminars, major franchise meetings, Printing Industries of the Carolina events and NAQP sessions. I even put together my own industry events, bringing in Industry consultants and other Xerox resources in to present on topics related to business and sales growth vs. my Xerox Digital Solutions. An interesting thing began to happen. My network and brand started to grow. Suddenly, my customers began to talk about the value I was bringing as part of the business partnership. One customer was featured in a recent magazine saying, “I bought a relationship – the equipment was free.”

I read a book several years ago by Seth Godin called “The Purple Cow”. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend you do. My goal was to become a “Purple Cow”. That is, I wanted to be so unique, so spectacular that people would have to stop and take notice!

So, think about “Brand U”. As a marketing person, what is your brand? What sets you apart from your peers, your competitors? Most important, do your customers agree with what you think your brand is?

Let me stress again, building a company’s brand in today’s digital world is easier than you think. Why? People can spread messages faster and more efficiently than ever before. It’s no longer just print, TV, radio, phone and word of mouth. You can use email. You can text. You can use a blackberry. You can use twitter. You can use facebook. You can blog. You can “internet search”. You can join networks on sites like linkedin.com. And I could go on and on.

Basically, you can communicate to millions and millions of people in seconds in today’s digital world. Equally as important, so can your customers! And what if they communicated “Your Brand”?   

Go ahead.  Take a minute and write a comment about what you think of when I say, “Brand Building in a Digital World.”  And let’s make it a goal in 2009 to expand OUR brand.

This is a great webinar that was done last week.  I highly encourage listening to the entire recorded webinar!

https://www.brainshark.com/xerox/MakingMoneyDifficultEcono1216