by Daria Steigman on April 14, 2010
Each week I’m highlighting 3 or 4 posts, surveys, and other news that I have read and/or tweeted about that you may not have seen. As the name implies, I think they deserve a second look.
- How Ford Got Its Mojo Back: A must-read post about smart business strategy reveals how Ford CEO Alan Mulally valued employees and used a combination of transparency, energy, and long-term thinking to bring the automaker back from the brink.
- Driving Value in Health Care: “Today’s health delivery system and payment framework does not reward innovation around health management, prevention, and real-time consumer engagement… To truly shift the business of health, we need to drive the right combination of structural change, innovation and use of technology to create a better system–essentially, drive real value for every dollar spent.” Smart thinking around shifting the model.
- China’s First Entrepreneur: The BBC looks at the courage, smarts, and serendipity it took to become China’s first licensed entrepreneur.
Photo by omniNate (Flickr).
Tagged as:
Alan Mulally,
Business,
engagement,
Entrepreneurship,
Ford,
Health care,
health reform,
Strategy
by Daria Steigman on December 29, 2008
When I wrote my post about the value of LinkedIn, I called it a “must have” element of every professional’s online presence. I still believe that. So why are so many people devaluing their profiles with endless drivel?
I belong to several LinkedIn Groups, and they are helpful in identifying like-minded professionals and in broadening my network. What they are not, it seems, is a forum for robust discussion.
For an overview of what’s gone awry with LinkedIn discussions, read Craig Peters’ terrific post. In it, he outlines many of the things people are doing wrong, including looking for free advice, traffic whoring, and blatant self-promotion.
I’m personally not so concerned with the free advice component, as we’re all learning every day. Plus providing value to someone else can be a good way to demonstrate expertise without giving everything away. But, like Peters, I’m tired of being bombared with constant come-ons and pleas to “please, please click on my link before answering.”
From a business perspective, I’m not sure why anyone would want their business persona to scream ”bad marketer and I contribute nothing.” From a social media perspective, they’re failing miserably on the engagement piece.
As to LinkedIn Groups, they are not now a go-to place for discussion. I think the smart conversation online has largely migrated to Twitter.
Tagged as:
Business,
engagement,
LinkedIn,
marketing,
PR,
Social Media
by Daria Steigman on August 2, 2008
Fast Growth Focus columnist Doug Davidoff writes about the five rules for creating demand:
- Know your customers.
- Identify problems they may not know they have.
- Educate clients on their problems by focusing on results and creating value.
- Don’t tell clients what you do; instead, “start building the bridge.”
- Monetize the value of your solutions.
Read Davidoff’s excellent article here.
Tagged as:
Customers,
Doug Davidoff,
engagement,
Fast Growth Focus,
Value
by Daria Steigman on July 10, 2008
I just skimmed through several years of IABC’s Communications World and CW Bulletin archives, and was struck by what communicators have found fundamental, relevant, or cutting-edge year from year. It was like rummaging through a time capsule.
The fundamentals of good communications strategy may not have changed, but the tools we’re using to achieve our goals certainly have evolved. A few years ago we were focused on e-mail marketing, Intranets, and teleconferencing, and we seemed to spend a lot of time strategizing how to push out information.
Now the conversation is about conversation: dialogue, collaboration, social networking. Instead of telling people what we want them to know about our brand, our product, or ourselves, we’re engaging them in shaping who we are and how we present ourselves. It’s a far more interesting place.
Tagged as:
Communications World,
CW Bulletin,
engagement,
IABC,
marketing,
PR
Each week I’m highlighting 3 or 4 posts, surveys, and other news that I have read and/or tweeted about that you may not have seen. As the name implies, I think they deserve a second look.