Monthly Archives: June 2010
Ends June 4 – World Innovation Forum Discount (save $510) If you would like to attend the World Innovation Forum (June 8-9, 2010 in New York City), we have negotiated a $200 discount for our loyal readers when you register with our discount code “INNOVATE”. When combine with the normal discount available until June 4, 2010, you can save $510 off the normal $2,200 ticket price. For more information on the World Innovation Forum speakers, check out Stu’s post. Ends June 2 – Save $350 – Early Bird Discount for the Business Innovation Factory (BIF-6) Business Innovation Factory (BIF-6) will be held September 15-16, 2010 in Providence, Rhode Island.There are only 300 seats for this fun and interesting event and it generally sells out.As an added value to our loyal readers, we have negotiated a $50 discount when you register using the discount code – bk10.Anyways, this year’s storytelling lineup … Continue reading
This year I thought I would experiment with a Top Ten list at the beginning of each month, profiling the ten posts from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Blogging Innovation. So, without further ado, here are May’s ten most popular innovation or marketing posts: 20 Strategies for Solo Social Media Success – by Mike Brown Create a Culture of Successful Failure – by Paul Sloane 8 Traits of Ineffective Leaders – by Mike Myatt Innovation Perspectives – Social Media Return Dilemma – by Paul Hobcraft Building a Better Pizza – by Robert F. Brands 15 Ideas to Make Your DIY Social Media More Successful – by Mike Brown Definitions of Innovation – by Mitch Ditkoff 100 Awesome Quotes on What It Takes To Innovate – by Mitch Ditkoff It’s Time for CRM to Go Social – by Idris Mootee Taking the NO out of InNOvation – … Continue reading
“Hey Dad, can I have your credit card number? I need to buy something online”. This is not just an annoying question my sixteen-year-old son seems to ask me two or three times a month. It’s a harbinger that e-tailing is set to go ballistic as soon as today’s teenagers get their first paychecks. Let’s face it, most of us came to the Internet when we were already in our twenties, thirties or forties, so the concept of shopping from a personal computer is not something we grew up with. We likely recall the novelty of making our very first purchases on sites like Amazon, eBay and Expedia, and the excitement in those heady days about entering the new “Wired World”. We also remember how the whole bubble burst at the end of the Nineties, leaving us burned, disillusioned and asking ourselves whether the future of retail may have arrived … Continue reading
The cost of Defend & Extend – Microsoft, Apple, Google, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP by Adam Hartung In theory, Sustaining Innovations that help a company Defend & Extend its products are supposed to be cheap. The breakthrough is done, and the investments on variations, derivatives and enhancements are “engineering” as opposed to “science” so the development is supposedly more easily planned, the costs better understood and the returns more predictable. That’s the theory, anyway, and as a result most managers constantly defend their decision to keep investing more in Defending & Extending past products rather than investing in new things which would develop new markets and new revenue streams. But, like a lot of business myths, there’s really no proof for this theory. It just sounds good. It seems “to make sense”, and the big issue is that “it simply has to be less risky to spend on what …
Is marketing aligned with the business? And who’s fault is that? Too often we see departmental objectives not quite aligned with the overall business objectives for a particular organization. This isn’t a good thing, but it’s not uncommon either. Surprisingly, this lack of alignment doesn’t necessarily come from different ideas of what marketing should be focused on. I’ve had CEOs clearly outline for me their business objectives and revenue goals, then two minutes later explain their vision for what marketing should be doing – and those focus areas have little if any linkage to the business goals. Marketing isn’t about tactics. It isn’t about brand. It isn’t about leads or PR or sales collateral or any of that. Marketing is about driving revenue. Marketing is about accelerating market share. Marketing is about delighting customers. Marketing is about growing the top-line, and increasing margins. Marketing (just like any department) …
