Market leadership is defined by the business with the largest market share or highest profitability margin in a specific market. Some business theorists suggest that service companies always run the risk of competing neck-in-neck on price. This may work for businesses that sell virtually identical products. In the services industry, however, market leadership requires that your service offers something a buyer cannot find elsewhere.
"How-to" expertise
If you had name one thing for which you or your business are the expert, what would it be?
If you can't think of anything, you are dispensable.
If you can't think of anything, you are dispensable.
Three kinds of communications
Whether we are talking about a company or a person, the entire gamut of communications can be summed up into three categories.
Inside and out
Since Strategic Communications is usually focused on achieving a goal, it is easy to forget its other purpose.
Novelist and poet Don Williams Jr. said, "The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”
If Williams is right, stratcomm wouldn't be strategic at all if it ignored the process. The road that leads to the goal requires as much attention as the ultimate goal - if not more.
This reminds us that stratcomm plays a pivotal role in the daily workings of any business operations. Properly designed processes, guidelines, and standards keep a business running smoothly, a staff happy and motivated, and daily goals fulfilled.
When you think about hiring a Strategic Communications consultant don't think of marketing alone. Think internal training, procedural efficiency, and ultimate simplicity in what may otherwise be a convoluted world of business.
Fun is the workplace solution...seriously
Motivational speaker Jody Ur
quhart
says there are three ways to motivate people to work harder, faster and smarter:
quhart says there are three ways to motivate people to work harder, faster and smarter: - threaten staff
- pay lots of money
- make work fun
Urquhart explains how the first two options are ineffective. But making work fun, she says, "has a track record of affecting real change.... [Because c]reativity, intuition and flexibility are key to successful operation of organizations today. In stimulating environments, employees enjoy their time at work and they will also excel at work. Attracting customers is easier in an environment of hospitality. A fun workplace is not only more productive, but it attracts people and profits."
Whether you manage a staff or are one of the working minions, find ways to make your work fun. Your career will flourish and you might begin liking the place you spend most of your time.
Nothing Ventured = Nothing Gained
If you expect to move yourself forward in your career, relationships, education, etc. but you're not willing to take a risk, be prepared to go nowhere.
You will never be loved if you never open yourself to the possibility of rejection. You will never launch a successful product if you're not prepared to risk launching a failing product.
The path of least resistance offers the least reward.
You know this, right? But when did you last take a risk?
You will never be anything if you aren't willing to fail. And trying doesn't count if you've ventured nothing.
Is your art real or fake?
You've likely heard it before but I bet you haven't done anything about it.
You know that old adage about the shoemaker? Simply, if your art is shoemaking but you're hobbling around in a tattered pair, you're sending a bad message.
You don't have to have the most elaborate shoes or best shoes you've ever made, but for goodness sake wear a set that don't welcome criticism.
If you are guilty of this professional faux pas let me tell you what I might be thinking: you're a liar. Your art or talent doesn't really exist and you're just someone who makes shoes because you have no choice. Quite frankly, I don't want to buy your shoes any more.
Are you so caught up in producing your product that you're hurting your own reputation? Or are you broadcasting your weaknesses because you don't even know what they are?
Think about it.
Non-Conformity and Higher Education
by Juliana Trichilo Cina
I'm very interested in the revolution of education. I believe it's an organic revolution and not one originating from within the industry.
We have been brainwashed to believe formal education is the best road to success. But time and time again we see amazing success stories from college and even high school drop-outs--Bill Gates and Richard Branson are two great examples.
In his Ted.com lecture, Ken Robinson says traditional models of education stifle creativity. Education teaches us conformity and serves the industrial needs of our economy. This fast food model of learning only produces a few items on a predetermined menu. Creative minds might recreate the menu altogether if given the freedom to do so.
SEO GUY
A licence plate said it all: SEO GUY. Driving in west Toronto tonight I found myself behind a car and licence plate that made me think. Few people take their jobs as personally as Mr. SEO. But making yourself and what you do for a living into a brand is definitely one road to success. More importantly, it's a way for us all to enjoy our jobs.
I try to embody this approach. JTCINA.COM is very reflective of my true self. I pour my heart and soul into it. I mean everything I write. I make it my business to be on top of news and developments in strategic communications.
Think about your professional brand.
I'm StratComm Girl. Even if that's too long to fit on a licence plate.
Execute or die
Execution is a huge hurdle for aspiring entrepreneurs. Will you get the job done for your boss but not for yourself? It's the few who push themselves into action and through to completion that get ahead in business. The rest of us pick a company and fight on its behalf. We may have dreams and plans but we never execute. If working for a boss works for you, that's wonderful. I mean no disrespect to the hard working rank and file employees in today's workplace. I do, however, want to pick on those with dreams that are never fulfilled. You're better than that.
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