While browsing the web I came across this useful guideline for selecting and evaluating business ideas made by the Board of Innovation.
Very useful for when you have several solutions to solve a problem or create a new business and you want to avoid innovative ideas from falling to the cracks.
A hint for scoring cards: here at crowdSPRING we usually use prime numbers up to 11 to score the complexity of implementing a solution. It is fancier than plain Low, Medium, High but avoids most of the confusions of trying to micro evaluate a card while giving you a better sense of complexity and time it would consume to pursue that option.
What about you? How do you score, select and evaluate ideas?
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
The video above shows Australian Magician James Galea performing an unbelievable magic trick with a deck of cards. How does he do that?
‘Tis the season. Not for giving gifts or reflecting on peace on earth. This is the silly season where we have to opportunity to elect our next President of the United States. Every four years, our country engages in a ritual which will impact the course of our economy, our social policy, and our governmental priorities. More importantly, this quadrennial exercise will determine the content of our newspapers, blogs, TV newscasts, and radio editorials. Writers will fulminate, pundits will issue declarations, and talking heads will revel in the traditional aspects of the sport known as Presidential Politics.
What can entrepreneurs learn from politicians? Historically, the political industry has pioneered strategies for marketing, partnering, business development, social media use, and audience engagement. Brand-building is key to successful political campaigns as it is for businesses, and politicians build their own personal brands using tactics that all of us use everyday. In short, small businesses and startups can draw many valuable lessons from politics, politicians, and political campaigns. In previous posts i have written about how we can learn from kids, dogs, musicians, chefs, and athletes.
As we speak there are still four candidates actively competing for the Republican Party nomination for President, and while we find ourselves by turns, laughing at them, swearing back at them on television, or nodding in agreement with their ideas, we do have to admire them for their passion, their dedication, and their persistence as they each create a distinct brand and pursue their share of the elector market. So, let’s take a look at the politicians and see what they have to teach us!
1. Politicians compete. Politics is a cut-throat industry, rife with cheating, back-stabbing, and intrigue. Not that those are necessarily ‘bad’ things, right? While i do not espouse the use of dirty tricks or underhanded strategies to gain advantage in business, we do stand to learn from successful politicians and their ability to put themselves forward in the best possible light, while painting the most unflattering picture possible of their opponents. In politics at its best, this competition takes the form of a debate about ideas and convictions and, at its worst, it can get viciously personal and destructive. While rejecting the negative approach we see so often in politics, entrepreneurs can and should learn from those politicians who compete by emphasizing the values they represent, the superiority of their ideas, and the benefits that come with their service.
2. Politicians market actively. Politics requires constant and active marketing. During campaign season, this is obvious – just ask anyone in Florida about the recent inundation f television commercials, mailers, robo-calls, door hangers, yard signage, and wall-to-wall billboards. But between elections good politicians continue to energetically market their ideas, their legislative priorities, and their brands. This usually takes the form of public relations – news conferences, press releases, public appearances are leveraged to keep the person or the issue in the public eye and push the priorities and ideas of the politician into the public conscience. Entrepreneurs can draw clear connections to their own businesses, products, and services and can leverage many of the same techniques politicians use to increase awareness, build brand loyalty, and keep themselves top-of-mind with their own audience.
3. Politicians differentiate. One of the keys to a strong political campaign is the candidate’s ability to draw a strong distinction between herself and her opponent. Voters take a risk when electing a candidate – after all, we don’t really know what a candidate will do once they become an incumbent – so it is critical for a politician to show how they are different and to give voters a clear choice. Small business can take a similar approach in the marketplace: by communicating how our offering differs from the competition, our customer can better understand the choices they have and the benefits they can derive by choosing us over the competition.
4. Politicians build audiences. In social media one measure of results is the size of our audience: followers, likes, re-tweets are ways we determine our success. In politics audiences are not just important, they are critical in determining whether an incumbent keeps his job or whether his opponent takes it over. So, needless to say, a politicians ability to build a faithful audience can make or break a career and determine whether their ideas and programs prevail. Our ventures, too, thrive with the support of a loyal audience; ensuring customer satisfaction, creating great word of mouth, and building a fanatical fan base can allow our own businesses to prevail in the marketplace.
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
The image to the left is a fun look at what a movie poster for an Oscar-nominated film would be like if it literally wanted to communicate what the movie was about. More fun posters in the Other section below.
While economists (as usual) refuse to agree on the specifics, there is a general consensus that the recovery may (finally) be underway. Last week the Labor Department announced that in January over 240,000 new jobs were created and that the unemployment rate was at its lowest level in three years. In addition, tax revenues are increasing as is consumer spending, and exports have grown across many industries.
For small business this is great news. Not just because it means that other companies are hiring, but it means that other companies are spending. One of the most corrosive effects of the weak economy has been the impact on how, when, and where businesses have spent; small business in particular took a hit because of reduced spending. When customers choose to defer spending on services and goods which might not be 100% necessary to their business, many other businesses are impacted. And when companies can be confident enough to start spending again, the trickle effect can have a positive impact on many other companies, too.
Small businesses can and should plan for an improving economy, just as they have for a downturn. In a bad economy we plan and execute tactics to cut back on discretionary spending, reduce labor costs, postpone expansion, defer marketing efforts, reduce inventories, and minimize all extras and perks. In an improving economy, small business in particular can look for ways to leverage the upswing and to strategically benefit from some of the opportunities created when bad times start to get better. Here then are 5 thoughts on ways small business and startups can get a jump on the growth!
1. Look for new talent. In the last few years, layoffs have taken a toll – hundreds of thousands of workers are still on the search for that new job and the pool of available talent is probably the richest it has been in decades. Consider filling any positions you might have left vacant during the downturn, or even creating new ones to take advantage of an uptick. Many positions require training and many new employees can take months to get fully up to speed, so start planning ahead for the growth that may be in store.
2. Invest in equipment. Capital expenditures were among the most commonly deferred costs for many businesses over the past few years, and manufacturers felt the sting. But now factories are gearing up again, with job growth in the manufacturing sector among the strongest last month. Inventories are also on the increase and together these act as a leading indicator and a strong sign of recovery. While credit remains tight, interest rates are at a historical low and government incentives are available making investment in equipment, furniture, and fixtures an attractive proposition. (more…)
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
The video above is a new Super Bowl commercial from Honda, featuring Matthew Broderick and reminding us how much we loved Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
What Zappos Can Teach You About Becoming Irresistible to Customers – http://t.co/3UxbuL0b
Gamification: The buzzword that can ruin your apps and business – http://t.co/bdsJOO6q
Sometimes it seems like the world of entrepreneurs is approximately 5,000% male. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to turn into a lecture about institutionalized sexism (though, largely male tech community: don’t tempt me!). Instead, I want this to be a celebration of women who go out, start their own businesses, and get exactly what they want.
Today’s spotlight is Geben Communication, a PR and communications firm located in Columbus, Ohio. Don’t let their “fly-over” status fool you: these guys are pros and handle clients from across the globe. President Heather Whaling has truly taken the world by storm. She’s been listed as one of the Top 30 PR Professionals to follow on Twitter and writes a monthly column on digital PR trends for American Express OpenForum. If that’s not enough (seriously, I’m exhausted listing all this!), she co-moderates a Twitter chat every week called PR 2.0 Chat (#pr20chat). There’s only one word for this woman: kick ass.
Heather talks more about taking over the PR business:
How would you explain what you do to somebody’s grandmother?
It seems like a new tool is being added to the communication toolbox every day. That can be
overwhelming for businesses who are trying to navigate this fast-paced, “always on, always
connected” world we live in. At Geben Communication, we help companies achieve their
business goals by incorporating the right mix of online and offline communication.
We deliver a wide range of services, depending on the client’s specific needs – anything from
media/blogger relations, online community building, and content marketing … to securing
speaking engagements, promoting events or managing crisis communication.
By combining traditional and digital PR, businesses can shape perceptions and influence
behaviors among key audiences – including customers, prospects, referral sources, industry
analysts, investors, and so on.
What are some industry specific challenges you faced?
Because social media gets so much attention, some companies think they can just launch a
Facebook page or a Twitter account, and the rest will take care of itself. It’s not quite that
simple. This isn’t Field of Dreams. If you build it, they won’t necessary come. Instead, truly
effective social media requires strategy, creativity and an investment of time and resources.
Plus, companies can amplify their message by using traditional PR and marketing to support
their online efforts. But, that requires planning and coordination. People see these free online
tools and sometimes don’t realize all the work and resources required to build a successful
online presence.
This isn’t an “either, or” situation. Instead of trying to choose between traditional PR or social media, figure out how they can work together. (more…)
Amanda Hocking is a star of the publishing world. Last year she signed a 4-book, $2 million dollar deal with St. Martin’s Press, one of the largest publishing houses in the world. While in itself, this is not unusual – authors become best-sellers every day, and publishing houses announce contracts with authors just as often, what is unusual is the road Hocking chose for her journey from high school-loner and Star Wars geek to group home worker to self-publishing royalty. Less than a year after she uploaded her first novel to Amazon, Hocking had uploaded 8 more of her novels and collectively they had sold more then a million copies and earned over $2 million in royalties. Hocking’s story is a classic tale of identifying a market need, strategically occupying a niche, and quickly building a strong brand field by a rapidly growing base of fans and word-of-mouth marketing.
Though she had been writing stories from the time she was 9 years old, and had already written full-length novels, Hocking tells of seeing a YouTube video of Mark Hoppus from Blink-182 talking with Pete Wentz of Fallout Boy. In the video, Hoppus encourages kids to follow their dreams and make them come true. It spurred her to take a passion for writing and approach it as a job instead of a hobby and to devote herself full time to the pursuit. Over the next year she made a serious study of the literary landscape, focusing on the teen paranormal-romance genre, and the market opportunity for series like the Twilight Saga and The Vampire Diaries series. Hocking settled down to work and within a year she had written 5 more novels all of which she started selling on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other e-book platforms.
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
The image above is a fun look at bottled water from Apple – if Apple made bottled water. That post, and other interesting posts are in the “Other” section below.
Crowdsourcing: a 7+7 Primer (tips for businesses on leveraging crowdsourcing) - http://bit.ly/wxqtb5
Starting a new biz with a friend? Good interview with @mike_samson about biz w/ friends – http://bit.ly/wBFfBv
Women Small Business Owners – America’s New job Creators [infographic] – http://t.co/74nUB76D
crowdSPRING’s Small Business Spotlight of the Week: Studyers -http://bit.ly/wy7Qty
crowdSPRING’s Small Business Spotlight of the Week: Twittapolls – http://t.co/aFHWJTmq
In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.
We’re very proud to feature Vinay and Asha (crowdSPRING username: Knifeonbutter) today. Vinay and Asha live and work in Goa, India.
1. Please tell us about yourselves.
We have traveled around the world, working in places as far and diverse as Fiji Islands and Dubai, not to mention all the cities across India. We now reside in Goa, dream beaches, sun,sand, coco feni, and like to pretend to work hard. Ideas fortunately , winning ideas save the day for us on sites such as yours. We just love crowdSPRING.
2. How did you become interested in writing?
We are both writers from the day we left college, and have worked with top 10 ad agency networks. It all started in school, when the teachers noticed we had a flair for writing, however, the idea lightbulbs started glowing, later on, after 3 years of hard, rigorous college education in disciplines as strange as physics and home sciences.
3. Who/what are some of the biggest influences on your writing?
David Ogilvy for sure. He was the greatest at one time. We never studied literature, so
we can’t quote Shakespeare. We are more fascinated with Adworld writers, Paul Hegarty, and creators like the Saatchi brothers.
crowdSPRING is the world's #1 marketplace for entrepreneurs, small businesses, nonprofits and agencies who need custom logo design, web design, a new company name or other writing and design services. Over 110,000 designers and writers work on crowdSPRING. We are trusted by more than 27,000 happy clients around the world.
While economists (as usual) refuse to agree on the specifics, there is a general consensus that the recovery may (finally) be underway. Last week the Labor Department announced that in January over 240,000 new jobs were created and that the unemployment rate was at its lowest level in three years. In addition, tax revenues are increasing as is consumer spending, and exports have grown across many industries.
