Work/Life balance

Good Marketing Starts With Good Story Telling

David Lavenda — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:44:56 -0500

Your product/service vastly improves your customers’ lives. In today’s world of stimulus saturation, how do you get your message across? Let’s look at two approaches. This example is taken from a company whose product helps organizations manage their IT resources.

The Art of the Idea: 8 Ways to Light the Bulb Above Your Head

Sheryl Sulistiawan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:01:03 -0500

Eight Ways to Light the Bulb Over Your Head

Sheryl Sulistiawan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:53:22 -0500

Cutting Through The Noise – Getting Marketing On the Map

David Lavenda — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:54:35 -0500

Based on my last post, I thought it might be helpful to present several ideas about how to get small/young companies to focus on investing in strategic marketing, early in the product/service development cycle.

First, let's look at the sources of the problem.

If You Hear These, RUN, DON'T WALK!

David Lavenda — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:22:23 -0400

Startup CEOs Say the Darndest Things....

Small Company Mistake #7 – Hiring the Wrong Kinds of Folks – 7 Do’s and 6 Don’ts

David Lavenda — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:48:14 -0400

Your company is only as good its people. An awful cliché, but it is usually true. Hiring the wrong people is the most critical mistake a small company can make, so it makes sense to learn from others. Here are some important hiring don’t and do’s:

Don’ts

How to Become a Design Genius: Take Time Off. Lots of It.

Cliff Kuang — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:47:51 -0400

Small/Young Company Mistakes - #2 and #3 – Market Validation

David Lavenda — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:07:48 -0400

“We don’t want to let the cat out of the bag too soon.”

“We know what our customers want, for god’s sake, we are average users ourselves”

10 Common Small Company Mistakes - #1 Drinking the Kool-Aid

David Lavenda — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:09:28 -0400

This is the first installment in a series of “mini-articles” that examine the top major mistakes startups and small companies make. This post looks at how blindly following a company vision cause a young/small company to do the wrong things. It also offers some suggestions about how to avoid this mistake.

10 Common Mistakes That Startup and Small Companies Make

David Lavenda — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:39:30 -0400

Young companies have small margins for error. Mistakes made early on can sink a company before its gets off the ground. Below is a list of 10 common mistakes made by young, small companies. In the list below, I use the generic term “product” to refer to either a product or a service.

Over the next few posts, I will expound on these ideas; for now, here is the list :

Tracking Web Leads...for Free!

David Lavenda — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:42:12 -0400

As the fall marketing “season” gets underway, now is a good time to propose some simple and free ideas for tracking web leads.

Clarity is King

David Lavenda — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:41:40 -0400

I have spent the last few weeks reviewing a number of startup websites and I can’t help but notice the same design flaws in most of the sites. Young companies, often started by technologists, are sure that their technology or product is absolutely unique. When they open their doors, they fear that competitors are combing their site to steal their secrets, so they post a generic “in stealth mode” home page while the product is in development.

“Customer Service” or “Customers Serve Us?”

David Lavenda — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:08:29 -0400

A follow up to a previous post about customer service - below are a few more experiences that definitely go in the “don’t do” column of how to successfully market your company, product, or service…..

Where is the “Who, What, and Why” in Marketing?

David Lavenda — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:31:18 -0400

Pick up any book in the Marketing section of your local bookstore, or a current magazine on the newsstand and you are sure to see at least one article about one of the following"how to" topics – such as:

Archives of the Planet

Jed Share — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:11:19 -0400

'The Dawn of the Color Photograph' is a wonderful book I recently
had the pleasure of discovering. It's a treasure trove of color images from
the early 1900's, collected by Albert Kahn, a banker, yet really an
internationalist who dedicated his life to collecting and preserving
the earliest collection of color photographs depicting life at that
time, all around the world.

“The question is not what you look at, but what you see”

Jed Share — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:49:10 -0400

Henry David Thoreau wrote: “The question is not about what you look at, but what you see”

When I first read Walden Pond, it influenced me deeply to seek peace
in nature and as a professional photographer to become mindful of the most minute detail. Is this a
Dandelion or a network? Inter-connected, inter-dependent, balanced,
and stronger as a whole.

Are we stronger when we connect to others, I think we are, how do you see it?

See more evocative photography at http://jedshare.com

How Not To Measure Customer Satisfaction

David Lavenda — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:50:44 -0400

I recently took my wife’s mobile phone in for servicing. At the service center, the waiting room was packed with people, but like a well-designed ant farm, there seemed to be a method to the madness. A well-groomed clerk handed out numbers to waiting customers and the lines seemed to be moving. The newly-designed service center was decked out with a slick showroom, showcasing the newest phones and other products.

Pitching 101

David Lavenda — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:22:59 -0400

I recently had an opportunity to be part of a tour that visited some of the big software companies in Silicon Valley. The group met with business development groups and also met with venture capitalists. After observing the interactions between the mostly young entrepreneurs and the more-seasoned (and sometimes jaded) biz dev folks, here are some suggestions for young companies when presenting themselves to big companies/investors:

Flexibility: A Top Value for Technical Women and Men by Caroline Simard, Director of Research

Caroline Simard — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:35:52 -0400

In my last blog post, I highlighted the different family configurations
between men and women working in high-technology – namely, 82% of technical women
report that their partner works full time, compared to 37% of technical men,
and a majority of women are partnered with someone working in high-tech as
well.

Getting the Word Out With Webinars

David Lavenda — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:54:31 -0400

In today’s business environment, people are just not traveling. So how do you get the message out? One way is the webinar. I have found webinars to be very effective, if you know how to do them properly. This post will cover some practical advice to executing a successful webinar.

Selling an Innovative Solution During a Downturn

David Lavenda — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:54:52 -0500

Well, here’s another post about what to do in a downturn, particularly if you are selling an innovative product or service to business.

Creating Marketing Messages

David Lavenda — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:52:28 -0500

When selling to organizations or professionals, I find it useful to consider the following three constituents when building your set of marketing messages:

Some Thoughts For The New Year

David Lavenda — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:11:14 -0500

As 2008 turns to 2009, many of us in the marketing world are planning our programs for the next 6-12 months. For young companies operating in an elevated state of uncertainty, it is even harder this year to know where to spend the two most precious resources – time and money. Here are few suggestions to stay focused:

Startup Marketing in Tough Economic Times

David Lavenda — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:56:52 -0500

“Times are tough.” “Budgets have been cut.” “You have to preserve valuable cash until the storm blows over.” “The competition won’t be spending money on marketing now, so there is less pressure to spend money ourselves.”

Did You Miss It?

Joe Raasch — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:26:26 -0500

When approached to be part of the team that writes for FastCompany about Work/Life balance I thought, "what a great opportunity!" and added the project to my schedule. I was directed to post once a week, on Friday.

I did not post last Friday. Part happenstance, part intentional. No post here from me.

Did you notice? I did not hear from readers, bloggers or the folks at FastCompany.

Huh.