Archive for the ‘Business Development’ Category
Thursday, June 27th, 2019
by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA
It’s hard to overstate the value of relationships in business. And, while it’s true for companies of any size, this can be especially crucial for success among small and midsized businesses (SMBs) as well as in the B2B world generally. “As an entrepreneur, you have countless relationships you need to manage on a daily basis,” writes Jennifer Spencer in an article for Entrepreneur. “There are your employees. There are the vendors who provide needed support services to help you run your business. And, of course, there are also your customers.”
(more…)
Tags: affiliate marketing, building relationships, Customer Service, give to get, law of reciprocity, marketing strategy, marketing tactics, pay to play
Posted in Business Development, Client Relations, Marketing and Branding | No Comments »
Thursday, June 20th, 2019
by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA
With an up and down history dating back to the 1960s, the software-as-a-service or SaaS model has become the norm in tech-centered industries over the last couple of decades. With a SaaS model, providers of various applications or data storage capabilities allow end-users to remotely access the application or data. This is in contrast to models many of us were familiar with in the 1990s and 2000s where you would purchase an operating system software and install it via CD on a personal computer, for example.
In an article for Entrepreneur, Thomas Smale writes that the SaaS model has moved further and further toward a subscription model and suggests several subscription model-oriented growth strategies. These aren’t strategies only for very large, enterprise organizations. Even the smallest businesses, or solopreneurs, can leverage the subscription model to build sales. (more…)
Tags: content marketing, Innovation, marketing strategy, SaaS, software as a service, Strategy, subscription models
Posted in Business Development, Content Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing and Branding | No Comments »
Thursday, June 13th, 2019
by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA
Earlier this year, an outage on Facebook, as well as its subsidiary services Instagram and WhatsApp, demonstrated that even the most sophisticated tech companies and social media platforms are not immune to technical challenges. In an article for Entrepreneur, Kimanzi Constable argues that the outage could hold some important lessons for content marketers and online advertisers. It wasn’t an isolated incident. Lately it seems that every week brings another outage—most minor, but all troubling.
“There is no doubt businesses lost revenue with this outage,” he writes. “For those who pay for advertising, their ads weren’t reaching potential customers. For those that rely on posting in their Facebook groups, on their personal pages and on Instagram, they lost revenue because they couldn’t use the strategy that they’ve always used.” So what should companies do from a strategic standpoint to prevent this kind of negative impact in the future? (more…)
Tags: avoiding communication blackouts, Brand Management, Customer Communication, ensuring connections with your audience, online outages, protecting your brand, Social Media
Posted in Business Development | No Comments »
Monday, May 27th, 2019
Many of us are familiar with the concept of disruptive innovation: a new product or service enters the market and overthrows established competitors by fundamentally changing the paradigm. Common examples include the advent of the automobile, the personal computer, or direct streaming services. But, do we really need to be disruptively innovative? (more…)
Tags: blue ocean strategy, disruptive innovation, Innovation, market disruption, nondisruptive innovation
Posted in Business Development, Marketing and Branding | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 14th, 2018
Maybe it’s because I grew up in a family-owned business. Maybe it’s because I grew up a bit “socially awkward.” Maybe it’s because I spent 20+ years in corporate communications. Whatever it is, I grew up with a very strong sense of inclusiveness when it comes to interacting with people. The concept that you “can’t judge a book by its cover” has always been meaningful to me; I’ve always enjoyed interacting with and learning from a broad range of people–trying hard not to pre-judge those I come into contact with. That has served me well. (more…)
Tags: being inclusive, building relationships, career success, inclusiveness, networking
Posted in Business Development, Career Advice | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2018
Many people are somewhat wary of having something sold to them. Even with professional salespeople, and even when we’ve actively sought out the product or service a salesperson is offering, there is a tendency to be skeptical of what they’re telling us. After all, they are trying to get money from us. That’s why anything that can be done to boost the credibility of a salesperson is a big boon. (more…)
Tags: effective sales, Sales, sales ability, salesmanship, selling products, SME, subject matter expert, thought leader
Posted in Business Development, Strategic Communications | No Comments »
Thursday, September 27th, 2018
by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA
At first glance, it might seem like a ridiculous strategy to price a product below its cost. Wouldn’t you just be losing money? While this is true, many companies do just that, and they do lose money. On that specific offering. This is part of a strategy known as loss leader pricing. As defined by Inc., “loss leader pricing is an aggressive pricing strategy in which a store sells selected goods below cost in order to attract customers who will, according to the loss leader philosophy, make up for the losses on highlighted products with additional purchases of profitable goods.”
A great example of a loss leader is razors. (more…)
Tags: attracting customers, getting new customers, loss leader, loss leader pricing, Marketing, marketing strategy, pricing strategy, Strategy
Posted in Business Development, Competition, Marketing and Branding, Small Business Strategy | No Comments »
Monday, September 24th, 2018
by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA
Disruptive innovation refers to new advances within an industry that fundamentally reshape or even completely replace an industry. Consider, for example, the impact of the personal computer on the typewriter industry, or the impact of the automobile on the horse-drawn carriage industry. Disruptive innovation is a boon to consumers and society in general, because new products, new services and new ways of serving customers add value to individuals and the economy as a whole. At the same time, disruptive innovation can be devastating to companies that are too slow to recognize the impending impact of disruptive innovation or too slow to react once they have recognized that potential impact.
In a post for Vertafore, Ben Deda, VP of Marketing, lists several examples of companies that failed to adapt to disruptive innovation. You’ve likely heard of them: (more…)
Tags: Blockbuster, business challenge, disruptive innovation, entrepreneurship, Innovation, Kodak, Myspace, outpacing the competition, staying competitive, threats of new market entrants, Xerox
Posted in Business Development, Small Business Strategy | No Comments »
Thursday, September 13th, 2018
by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA
One of the most difficult aspects of starting a new business is raising some start-up capital. It’s great if you have sufficient savings built up to keep you going for a few years – yes, it often takes at least that long to start turning a profit – but that isn’t the reality for many entrepreneurs. In addition to the costs of running the business itself – which could include rent, marketing, utilities, raw materials, staff wages, etc. – entrepreneurs are often leaving an existing job, foregoing a steady paycheck.
Traditionally, start-ups are frequently funded by one or more of the “3Fs”: family, friends and fools. (more…)
Tags: business capital, Business development, business startup, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, funding, venture capitalists
Posted in Business Development, Small Business Strategy | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 11th, 2018
Marketing is key to not only getting the word out about your products and services but also for convincing potential consumers that your offerings provide the best quality, best value, are the trendiest, etc. Influencers can be a huge benefit in this respect. Influencers are individuals or organizations that have the ability to influence the beliefs, attitudes and actions of others. An influencer might be a popular professional athlete who touts the efficacy of a particular shoe, supplement or clothing brand. Or it could be a celebrity who shows up on the red carpet wearing a particular fashion brand—one that carries your label.
These are examples of large-scale influencers. Small businesses typically don’t have access to such individuals unless by pure good fortune. But in an article for Forbes, Dinah Wisenberg Brin writes that some businesses have found success using “micro-influencers” to achieve similar effects, albeit on a smaller scale. (more…)
Tags: Customer Communication, digital marketing, influencers, Marketing, micro-influencers, Social Media, social media marketing, targeted marketing
Posted in Business Development, Client Relations, Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing and Branding, Marketing Communication | No Comments »
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