Strategy

I’m fascinated by the hubbub that Tropicana created by changing their branding.

Have you seen this?

A while back, Tropicana decided to change their boxes from the straw in the orange look to a new, cleaner looking box with a “crate and barrel glass” filled with juice on the edge of the box.

The move, as I read at the Daily Heller,  was pushed as a “historic integrated-marketing and advertising campaign… designed to reinforce the brand and product attributes” and “help consumers rediscover the health benefits they get from drinking America’s iconic orange-juice brand.” Wow, that’s a pretty big job for a simple box redesign.

What was the result of this “historic” push?

It lost money. Either because people didn’t recognize the branding anymore or were turned off by the “generic” look of the new box. Personally, I like the clean look of the new branding, but the thing that used to say Tropicana doesn’t say Tropicana to me anymore.  It says Orange Juice.

Maybe they should have talked with Naota Fukasawa who designed new fruit juice packaging meant to mimic the look and feel of the fruit inside.

Updating your packaging and by extension, your brand can be important to keep current in the fast moving world, but at what expense?

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager

Tags: branding, Marketing
Posted on April 20th, 2009 | 9 Comments »

Tim Berry was featured on Jim Blasingame’s Small Business Advocate radio show yesterday.

Succession planning is a big part of the long-term planning for millions of small businesses. Tim Berry has studied this and actually done it successfully, and he talks with Jim Blasingame about his advice based on his experience.

You can listen to the full show by clicking on the image below.

And be sure to check out the Small Business Advocate website! Jim and his amazing staff have a wealth of information contained on the website.

Tags: jim blasingame, radio appearance, succession planning, Tim Berry
Posted on March 17th, 2009 | No Comments »

It’s no secret we’re big fans of John Jantsch around here. So it was exciting to read about a new webinar he’s involved in concerning something we get a lot of questions about.  Branding.

John writes:

Please join me and a very fun panel of small business branding pros on Wednesday, March 18th at 11am CDT for – The “Truth” About Small Business Branding – using your small business brand to outsmart the competition – a panel discussion featuring practical branding tips and tactics from leading small business branding experts.

Panelists:
» Karen Post – The Branding Diva & Author of Brain Tattoos
» John Moore – Creator of Brand Autopsy & Author of Tribal Knowledge
» Sam Horn – Author of Pop! – Stand out in any crowd
» Aaron Weiss – Chief Product Officer for MarketSplash

This won’t be your typical Branding 101 discussion, trust me, these guys get small business.

Register here for the Truth About Small Business Branding

Definitely a webinar to  make time for!

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Tags: branding, experts, john jantsch, Marketing, Small Business, webinar
Posted on March 12th, 2009 | No Comments »

Here is the link to an interesting BusinessWeek Online opinion piece by Steve McKee, Why Social Media is Worth Small Business Owner’s Time.

Why? The subheading points it out “All Those Users Spell Opportunity”. McKee also makes a nice comparison of today’s growth in Social Media to the growth to near-omnipresence of the Internet in business during the last one and one-half decades.

Give this a read, and then “Jump Right In”, making Social Media participation a strategy for your business.

Steve Lange
Senior Editor
Palo Alto Software

Posted on January 20th, 2009 | No Comments »

This is a time of year when family and good cheer should take precedence over work and things like email monitoring. Many of us will step away from our inboxes and turn our focus on real boxes — those containing gifts.

Of course that’s not to say that messages aren’t going to continue materializing in your inbox. In fact, you might even get a few good ones — potential leads, perhaps.

Given that fact, it’s impractical to consider stepping away from the mess entirely — as recommended in this Lifehacker.com blog post. This might work for the few of us who can afford to pass by viable opportunities or for those among us who don’t place a premium on customer service.

But for the rest of us, it would be nice to find a solution built to distribute the workload of customer and business email so that when one person steps away from her inbox, others can pick up the slack — and see that no opportunity is missed.

For instance, Email Center Pro was designed to manage exactly this scenario. By centralizing all of your email in a single, transparent location, there’s no longer a need for one person to manage all of it.

And that means that you can step away from your business email with a peace of mind — because you know that messages are no longer piling up in eager anticipation of your return. Instead what’s piling up is leads.

Jason Gallic
Product Marketing Manager
jason@paloalto.com

Tags: Email Center Pro, email overload, lost leads, managing email, vacation email
Posted on December 19th, 2008 | No Comments »

I was sent a link to an article about a pub in the UK that has decided to only charge £1 for their meals. All the meals. Lunch and dinner.

And their gamble is paying off.

“Three or four months ago we were really struggling, we thought we would have to give it up,” he told Sky News Online.

“Back then we typically had 15 people in for lunch – today I’ve had 300. Tonight there’ll be about 350 people in, whereas four months ago it was 20.

In fact, the gamble has paid off so well for them, they aren’t going to go back to regular prices. How do they make a profit by pricing everything on the menu at only one pound?

“We are making a profit by doing everything ourselves, shopping and sourcing the food locally, we’ve got a local butcher who works along with us,” says the landlord.
“We can do some of the items on the menu – things like meatballs and chips or chicken and chips – for 20p or 30p a portion, so we’re still making a profit.”
The pub is now doing a roaring trade with people travelling from Birmingham and even Liverpool to enjoy the food.

Now, there’s a business that moves with the punches. Good for them.

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Have you signed up for the Back to the Fundamentals webinar yet?

Posted on November 3rd, 2008 | No Comments »

Interesting article today on Businessweek.com about the importance of recognizing your business costs and getting them under control now verses later, when it could be too late:

“…by recognizing the problem early and making moderate reductions, small firms can avoid more severe cuts later on, financial experts say. Companies that ignore warning signs can erode their profits with rising costs, and those that borrow to meet those costs can wind up insolvent.”

How many of you are looking at your personal or household budgets and cutting expenses? Change vacations plans? Did you dump those magazine subscriptions that you don’t need?

Why wouldn’t you do the same thing at your business?

The answer is, you would! No question. Right?

Now, here’s the next question. Are you being smart in your cuts, or are you looking at the highest costs and slashing them without really looking down the road and seeing what the cut is going to do to you later on? How many of you immediately shut down your advertising campaign? Canceled all your trade show appearances? Eliminated a position or two on your staff?

Let me say this again. Cutting your business costs now verses later is a good idea… but making sure you make the right cuts is going to make the difference between having a strong and functioning business and a “just hanging on” business down the road.

You are in business now because you made smart choices. Keep that up. Pull open your budgets, study your cash flow, your planned vs actuals, your forecasts. Adjust them for the good, the bad and the really really ugly. Be brutal in your projections and then look at your costs.

Make a plan. A good plan.

Now is not the time for guess work and hasty decisions. You can’t afford it.

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Have you signed up for the Back to the Fundamentals webinar with Tim Berry? There’s still time! Register Right Now by clicking this button

Tags: backtofundamentals, business planning, global entrepreneurship week, smart planning, Tim Berry, webinar
Posted on October 30th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Ok, so, if I am not referring to a special police unit what is SWOT and how can it help you run your business better? SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Every business should be doing a SWOT assessment every year to make sure that they understand the current market and to focus on the opportunities for the coming year and identify any particular threats which may be on the horizon. Threats and Opportunities are driven by the market and industry your business is in, whereas Strengths and Weaknesses are driven by your particular internal organization.

Recently we had a business owner ask us a question about SWOT:

How would/could I use the SWOT analysis tool to assist in my purchase negotiations. How does knowing your strengths and weaknesses, etc., help?

This is a great question as it sheds light on why all businesses need to know their SWOT and should review it annually. If you are suddenly in a position to sell your business for instance, as in the case above, knowing your SWOT can help you in negotiations in the following ways:

1. You can clearly outline the revenue opportunities for your business, by understanding the Opportunity portion of SWOT. Because the Opportunities are market driven they are simply there for the taking — if the business can recognize them, and put resources in the appropriate place. This is a great selling point for a business because opportunities should exist no matter who owns the business.
2. By understanding the Threats, you can mitigate certain questions/fears that a potential buyer might have. You can address certain threats and clearly lay out a plan to combat them. You come out looking like a smarter business owner, and give the impression that you are running a tight ship – something all potential buyers want to know.
3. By knowing your Strengths, you can emphasize them in your negotiations. Perhaps a strength is your history in the industry or the loyalty of your customers. Maybe a strength is the fact that your product and/or service has been the clear winner in the market. You want to clearly outline your strengths as they should help you get more $$ for your business if are trying to sell it.
4. Your Weaknesses will probably be downplayed during the process of selling your business. But knowing your weaknesses prepares you to address concerns the future buyer may have.

So now you know specifically why SWOT can help you if you are selling you business, but how can it help you run and grow your business? Think about this example:

John is a real estate agent trying to sell a house. In order to price the house, and figure out the right way to market the house, he starts listing the different pros and cons:

1. The house is in a great neighborhood. (Opportunity)
2. The house has no garage. (Weakness)
3. The house has an internal vacuum system. (Strength)
4. The house may be in an area with weak planning restrictions. This means the house across the street could get torn down and an apartment building could be put in its place. (Threat)
5. The house has a brand new kitchen. (Strength)
6. The house has a shady backyard. (Weakness in Oregon, Strength in Arizona)

You can see the mental process that John has gone through in order to market and sell this particular house. This is the same thing you want to do for your business. In order to understand the pros and cons, and position your products and services in the current marketplace you NEED to understand what market conditions you are up against (threats), or make your solution perfect for the customer (opportunities) and what your company brings to the table (strengths) and what your company is not very good at (weaknesses). By identifying your SWOT you can then build a strategy to either take advantage of (strengths and opportunities) or combat (threats and weaknesses). Your SWOT is usually the first step towards creating a strategic plan to market and sell your products and or services. And when business gets a little tougher, maybe due to a bad economy, knowing your SWOT will help you put your energy in the right place, while being aware of which factors may threaten or weaken your business.

Have more questions about SWOT? Read more here.

Sabrina Parsons aka MommyCEO 

Email Center Pro

Tags: backtofundamentals
Posted on October 27th, 2008 | No Comments »

You may start noticing a theme on the BIG Blog – “Back to Fundamentals” – and when you sit down and think about it, it is a really simple idea that can have a really big impact on your business. Whether or not your company is in a financial pinch, the economy is in a slump or things are booming, it never hurts to evaluate things and get back to the fundamentals of business.

Marketing is a key component to the success of any business, so I want to focus my future posts on getting back to the fundamentals of marketing. Often times people think effective marketing campaigns require a big budget, when in reality there are many ways to market with little to no budget. Networking is one of those ways.

The word “networking” can evoke a mix of emotions from people. The old, standard definition of networking (a meet and greet event where you shake hands and make small talk with others) isn’t the only way to truly and effectively network. That being said, there is generally going to be some handshaking and small talk to learn about someone’s business and tell them about yours. There are a number of ways to effectively meet people, learn about their businesses and determine how you can create a mutually beneficial relationship, all with little to no cost and without cheesy and uncomfortable small talk. Here are some simple ideas of where/how you can network:

1. Professional associations related to your industry
2. Local or regional associations or groups
3. Traditional networking groups/clubs
4. Cultural associations
5. Chambers of Commerce
6. Local business events (business after-hours, business expos, etc)
7. Join a gym
8. Volunteer

In general, use every opportunity (business or personal) as a potential networking opportunity. Networking doesn’t have to be cheesy or boring. It can be as simple as striking up a conversation with someone who you meet in your morning workout class.

Kristen Langham
Manager of Business Development
Palo Alto Software

Tags: backtofundamentals, entrepreneurship, Marketing, networking
Posted on October 23rd, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Strategy is focus, and focus is strategy. The secret to failure is trying to please everybody.

I just saw a nice example again this morning, as Seth Godin explains why he’s doing just a few things, and not a lot of different things. He calls it the sad truth about marketing shortcuts.

If you have a presence on Twitter, Squidoo, blogs, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and 20 other sites, the chances of finding critical mass at any of them is close to zero. But if you dominate, if you’re the go-to person, the king of your hill, magical things happen. One follower in each of twenty places is worthless. Twenty connected followers in one place is a tribe. It’s the foundation for building something that matters.

This is why I don’t have a podcast, a video channel, any activity to speak of on Facebook. It’s why I don’t use Twitter or travel the country visiting bookstores. There are many places to be, and it’s tempting to act like those non-profits and race after the next one. But it doesn’t work.

Good point.

Tim Berry
President and Founder
Palo Alto Software

Tags: focus, Seth Godin, Strategy
Posted on October 23rd, 2008 | No Comments »