By Matt Thornhill Monday, December 28, 2009
For the last two years, the Marketing Executive Networking Group has polled its members to learn about the issues on the minds of top marketers. Both surveys included questions about the "most important marketing segment." Both times Boomers topped the list. Higher than Women or Hispanics/Latinos.
We wonder, though, how many of those marketing executives even have a marketing plan that includes Boomers. Our bet: practically none.
Twenty Ten (get used to it, trust us) is going to change that. Years ago, David Wolfe, author of Ageless Marketing and one of the most visionary marketing minds out there, was asked when marketers would wake up to the older demographic. He said, "When there is pain." That is, when business softens and marketers realize more money is in the hands of the older half of the population -- the one they've been ignoring.
In the last year we think marketers have experienced enough "pain" to their bottom line to examine the opportunities of targeting Boomers, or those over 50. To help in that examination, we offer 10 reasons Boomers need to be part of your marketing plan in 2010.
1.You will build your career and legacy on their backs. (We thought we'd start with a personal reason to motivate you to keep reading.) In 2020, the marketing leaders in organizations will be the ones that figured out how to make their products or services relevant to the over-50 crowd. That's because the over-50 crowd will grow 21% in size in 10 years. The 18-49 crowd will remain the same size. We're not making this up. It's Census data.
2.They buy things. Lots of things. Overall, the over-50 crowd outspends the under-50 crowd by $400 billion. That's more than Walmart sells annually. Want some of that action?
3.They try new things. Boomers were raised in front of the TV; they are not "set in their ways." They'll buy your product if you make it relevant. So make it relevant.
4.They are easy to reach. They read newspapers. They watch TV. They listen to the radio. They are easier to target than younger generations.
5.They think they are in the middle of Middle Age. With a median age of 54, Boomers are far from being done. They don't think they will reach Old Age until age 75 or so. You have plenty of years of strong revenue from their wallets.
6.They use the Internet. They search, they shop, they buy. There may not be as many of them on social networking sites, but they are online -- just as many and just as often as younger generations. You can sell to them online.
7.They have grandkids. Some 40% of all Boomers are already grandparents. Over 55% of all grandparents alive today are Boomers. They spend money on their grandkids, practically without thinking. It's like taking candy from a grandbaby.
8.They are control freaks. They control their parents' consumption of healthcare and their kids' education. They are a sandwich generation that likes being in the center of it all. Think "ham." They like to influence everyone's purchases -- family, friends, Facebook buddies.
9.They like advertising. Sure, they are skeptical, but they are also fans of good advertising. They will respond to your effort if it speaks to them.
10.They are the future. "Old" is where the action is for the next 20 years and Boomers are the new "old." New products, businesses and industries will cater to the new "old." Will you?
Put Boomers into your 2010 plan and demonstrate you've got 2020 foresight......annnnnd....
The Good Dr. Philip Jay...wishes you and yours and healthy, happy and joyous New Year...Have a blast you all!!!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Cultivate a Team of Strategic Sellers
The role of the salesperson has changed. Today's salesperson must help customers increase market share, introduce new products and manage resources more efficiently. Learn how to transform a tactical sales force into a team of strategic sellers. Free whitepaper.
Hope you all can get this essay from University of Michigan Ross School of Business Executive Education. If you can't, write me and I'll send it to ya. I ordered it. Philip Jay LeNoble,Ph.D.
......drphilipjay@comcast.net.
Hope you all can get this essay from University of Michigan Ross School of Business Executive Education. If you can't, write me and I'll send it to ya. I ordered it. Philip Jay LeNoble,Ph.D.
......drphilipjay@comcast.net.
TV Revs: '09 Down 22%, Rise Predicted in '10
TV stations will resume some advertising growth in 2010 -- but it will take years to get back to pre-recession levels.
BIA/Kelsey, a financial advisor to local media companies, estimates that TV stations' ad revenues will rise 3% in 2010 -- or $500 million -- to $16.1 billion. BIA estimates by 2013, stations will only inch forward to $16.4 billion; however, it notes that TV stations have not been at such levels since the mid-1990s.
The media group now says 2009 will end at $15.6 billion, down 22.4% from last year's $20.1 billion mark. TV stations reached an all-time ad revenue record in 2006, when it was at $22.8 billion.
BIA says 2011 will see negative growth again -- in part because it is a non-Olympic, non-political year. The market will shrink $200 million, landing TV stations at $15.9 billion.
The next year -- 2012, a big Olympics and political year -- will see the market grow a sizable $900 million to $16.8 billion. But in 2013, another non-Olympic, non-political year, the market will again contract to $16.4 billion.
BIA says local Internet advertising revenue for TV stations will be $518 million this year, a 12% increase over 2008. Internet sales for local TV stations will steadily rise to over $1 billion in 2013.
Virtually all TV markets were down in 2009, and many will struggle in 2010. But a couple will manage some meaningful improvements, thanks to local political advertising.
These markets include: Philadelphia, up 6.5%; Pittsburgh, 5% or higher; Las Vegas, 5% gain; and Chicago, St. Louis and Hartford-New Haven, all expected to have 4.5% increases in 2010. LeNoble says,"Much ado about transactional business but local-direct businesses will be looking for growth over 2009...if only sales managers can get their reps to make a call in place of sitting by the fax machine or waiting for an e-order to come in."
BIA/Kelsey, a financial advisor to local media companies, estimates that TV stations' ad revenues will rise 3% in 2010 -- or $500 million -- to $16.1 billion. BIA estimates by 2013, stations will only inch forward to $16.4 billion; however, it notes that TV stations have not been at such levels since the mid-1990s.
The media group now says 2009 will end at $15.6 billion, down 22.4% from last year's $20.1 billion mark. TV stations reached an all-time ad revenue record in 2006, when it was at $22.8 billion.
BIA says 2011 will see negative growth again -- in part because it is a non-Olympic, non-political year. The market will shrink $200 million, landing TV stations at $15.9 billion.
The next year -- 2012, a big Olympics and political year -- will see the market grow a sizable $900 million to $16.8 billion. But in 2013, another non-Olympic, non-political year, the market will again contract to $16.4 billion.
BIA says local Internet advertising revenue for TV stations will be $518 million this year, a 12% increase over 2008. Internet sales for local TV stations will steadily rise to over $1 billion in 2013.
Virtually all TV markets were down in 2009, and many will struggle in 2010. But a couple will manage some meaningful improvements, thanks to local political advertising.
These markets include: Philadelphia, up 6.5%; Pittsburgh, 5% or higher; Las Vegas, 5% gain; and Chicago, St. Louis and Hartford-New Haven, all expected to have 4.5% increases in 2010. LeNoble says,"Much ado about transactional business but local-direct businesses will be looking for growth over 2009...if only sales managers can get their reps to make a call in place of sitting by the fax machine or waiting for an e-order to come in."
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Maximizing Impact with mobile marketing
Since so much new media includes mobile marketing, I thought it would be good to post an essay by Bob Compton, (bcompton@vontoo.com) who is is Founder and CEO and of leading permission-based voice marketing provider, Vontoo, based in Indianapolis, IN.
Hope you enjoy this insight into the heart of mobile marketing...Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.
With the introduction of new technologies, the face of marketing inevitably changes, as consumers adopt and come to prefer communicating through various new channels. While marketers once relied heavily on radio, television and print advertising, many now find online, SMS text messaging and social media efforts more effective in this digital age.
Mobile marketing can be particularly effective in today’s society as a result of people’s dependence on their cell phones. Cell phones are, certainly, used to make simple phone calls, but they are also now tools for sending text messages, emailing, gaming, checking sports scores, updating social media pages, managing schedules, setting alerts, looking up driving directions and more.
Although mobile marketing can be extremely effective, it is important that marketers realize the responsibility they have to communicate ethically and responsibly with consumers. Regardless of how much is invested in mobile marketing, it’s still important to focus on strategy execution for an effective campaign.
Here are five tips for maximizing the impact of your mobile marketing efforts for optimal results.
1. Communicate via methods customers prefer
Prior to initiating a mobile marketing campaign, thoroughly research your specific target audience. It’s very important to determine what types of people comprise this audience and what their preferences are with regard to receiving information – via text message, email, voice or another medium. Integrating opt-in pages on your web sites can help assist with list-building, ensuring that customers contacted have provided the necessary permission. Finally, be sure to consider the length of a message. For example, the average listening duration for a voice message is 30 seconds. Thus, messages longer than this likely won’t be heard by consumers.
2. Supply desired information
As part of your consumer research, develop an understanding of the information consumers seek. You want to provide desired information – not just details you deem important or that appear likely to benefit you most. For example, say a professional sports team is targeting its past single-game ticket holders to promote ticket sales for next season. While the team might want these consumers to purchase multi-game ticket packets in advance, the fans might actually be looking for information on how to purchase tickets for a single game, at their convenience. By providing the information fans are seeking, the team increases the likelihood of ticket sales and makes customers happy.
3. Avoid intrusive messaging
Be sensitive to the fact that consumers are constantly bombarded by marketing and advertising communications. Messaging should be extremely tailored to the target audience’s interests and needs. If consumers feel taken advantage of or intruded upon, you will risk alienating them from your brand. In addition, make sure that the timing of messaging is appropriate: send messages when consumers are most likely to successfully receive them.
4. Improve relationships with customers
Take advantage of the opportunity to serve customers well and create lasting relationships with them. Use mobile marketing to follow up with customers after purchases, offer any service assistance desired or alert them of upcoming deals. Let customers know they are valued and that you appreciate their business. By building more personal and intimate relationships with customers, you can help secure their business for an on-going basis into the future.
5. Build customer loyalty
Make repeat customers feel special by offering exclusive deals, special service and extra information. By simply creating a “VIP customer” list or offering items at a better value for these loyal customers, you’ll make them feel like they “belong” and truly secure their loyalty and business for the long-haul. For example, a musician might send special “thank you” messages to fans who attended a recent concert. In this messaging, he might also offer special back-stage passes or ticket discounts to these fans at the next concert they attend. Cultivating relationships with these loyal, repeat customers can lead to gaining future business with these individuals as well as those who are referred by them.
Mobile marketing can be a very effective tool if used properly. Research and consumer analysis are very important to planning effective campaigns. However, when it comes to implementing campaigns and building relationships with customers, it is important to properly tailor messaging and include personal elements of your business. Only when you allow yourself to get personal with customers will you see the loyal (and lucrative) business that mobile marketing can make possible.
Hope you enjoy this insight into the heart of mobile marketing...Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.
With the introduction of new technologies, the face of marketing inevitably changes, as consumers adopt and come to prefer communicating through various new channels. While marketers once relied heavily on radio, television and print advertising, many now find online, SMS text messaging and social media efforts more effective in this digital age.
Mobile marketing can be particularly effective in today’s society as a result of people’s dependence on their cell phones. Cell phones are, certainly, used to make simple phone calls, but they are also now tools for sending text messages, emailing, gaming, checking sports scores, updating social media pages, managing schedules, setting alerts, looking up driving directions and more.
Although mobile marketing can be extremely effective, it is important that marketers realize the responsibility they have to communicate ethically and responsibly with consumers. Regardless of how much is invested in mobile marketing, it’s still important to focus on strategy execution for an effective campaign.
Here are five tips for maximizing the impact of your mobile marketing efforts for optimal results.
1. Communicate via methods customers prefer
Prior to initiating a mobile marketing campaign, thoroughly research your specific target audience. It’s very important to determine what types of people comprise this audience and what their preferences are with regard to receiving information – via text message, email, voice or another medium. Integrating opt-in pages on your web sites can help assist with list-building, ensuring that customers contacted have provided the necessary permission. Finally, be sure to consider the length of a message. For example, the average listening duration for a voice message is 30 seconds. Thus, messages longer than this likely won’t be heard by consumers.
2. Supply desired information
As part of your consumer research, develop an understanding of the information consumers seek. You want to provide desired information – not just details you deem important or that appear likely to benefit you most. For example, say a professional sports team is targeting its past single-game ticket holders to promote ticket sales for next season. While the team might want these consumers to purchase multi-game ticket packets in advance, the fans might actually be looking for information on how to purchase tickets for a single game, at their convenience. By providing the information fans are seeking, the team increases the likelihood of ticket sales and makes customers happy.
3. Avoid intrusive messaging
Be sensitive to the fact that consumers are constantly bombarded by marketing and advertising communications. Messaging should be extremely tailored to the target audience’s interests and needs. If consumers feel taken advantage of or intruded upon, you will risk alienating them from your brand. In addition, make sure that the timing of messaging is appropriate: send messages when consumers are most likely to successfully receive them.
4. Improve relationships with customers
Take advantage of the opportunity to serve customers well and create lasting relationships with them. Use mobile marketing to follow up with customers after purchases, offer any service assistance desired or alert them of upcoming deals. Let customers know they are valued and that you appreciate their business. By building more personal and intimate relationships with customers, you can help secure their business for an on-going basis into the future.
5. Build customer loyalty
Make repeat customers feel special by offering exclusive deals, special service and extra information. By simply creating a “VIP customer” list or offering items at a better value for these loyal customers, you’ll make them feel like they “belong” and truly secure their loyalty and business for the long-haul. For example, a musician might send special “thank you” messages to fans who attended a recent concert. In this messaging, he might also offer special back-stage passes or ticket discounts to these fans at the next concert they attend. Cultivating relationships with these loyal, repeat customers can lead to gaining future business with these individuals as well as those who are referred by them.
Mobile marketing can be a very effective tool if used properly. Research and consumer analysis are very important to planning effective campaigns. However, when it comes to implementing campaigns and building relationships with customers, it is important to properly tailor messaging and include personal elements of your business. Only when you allow yourself to get personal with customers will you see the loyal (and lucrative) business that mobile marketing can make possible.
Friday, December 18, 2009
The Five-Second Brand
By Peter Dunn Friday, December 18, 2009
Gen Y is said to have the attention span of a gnat. Having never studied the attentiveness of gnats, let's all agree that this means that Gen Y is easily distracted. They (we) are distracted away from your brand, and they (we) are distracted towards your brand. But how can you make sure that your brand is flypaper and your followers are flies?
The solution: a five-second brand. For example, the average Gen Yer lives life buried in a mobile device. Therefore, your five-second brand must resonate on this emerging platform. Can your message be conveyed across a Droid or iPhone? If you are trying to reach Gen Y, then it better. Gen Y is the generation that never had to deal with a dial-up connection; they aren't going to tolerate a brand that takes 30 seconds to explain. The five-second brand is all about meeting your audience half-way.
So, how do you make your brand shine in just five seconds? Here are three sure-fire ways to get your brand noticed by Gen Y in that time frame.
1.Authentic There is no more annoying and cliché concept in marketing than authenticity. However, it's still a misunderstood concept that people misplay. Authenticity has nothing to do with test groups or tracking. Authenticity is like having 11 toes. You either have it, or you don't. Authenticity is your ability to let your brand's true personality shine through the messaging.
2.Inviting Your audience needs to feel like they can interact with your brand. Gen Y hates being told what to do. A brand that offers open dialogue is a brand that isn't easily dismissed by a distracted Gen Yer. I'm not talking about the suggestion box mentality either. Gen Y expects to see their name alongside of your brand. You need to go far enough to literally include members of your audience in your brand.
3.Casual The business suit of Gen Y is jeans. Even formal industries see the importance of casualness when targeting Gen Y. The funny thing is that Gen Y doesn't find their jeans to be casual. It's just how they are, which brings us back to authenticity.
Look deep within your brand and try to objectively evaluate its position in your marketing. You can't fake these things, but you can dig deep and discover the true voice of your brand. Can you get the job in five seconds? If not, then you have a lot of work to do.
Gen Y is said to have the attention span of a gnat. Having never studied the attentiveness of gnats, let's all agree that this means that Gen Y is easily distracted. They (we) are distracted away from your brand, and they (we) are distracted towards your brand. But how can you make sure that your brand is flypaper and your followers are flies?
The solution: a five-second brand. For example, the average Gen Yer lives life buried in a mobile device. Therefore, your five-second brand must resonate on this emerging platform. Can your message be conveyed across a Droid or iPhone? If you are trying to reach Gen Y, then it better. Gen Y is the generation that never had to deal with a dial-up connection; they aren't going to tolerate a brand that takes 30 seconds to explain. The five-second brand is all about meeting your audience half-way.
So, how do you make your brand shine in just five seconds? Here are three sure-fire ways to get your brand noticed by Gen Y in that time frame.
1.Authentic There is no more annoying and cliché concept in marketing than authenticity. However, it's still a misunderstood concept that people misplay. Authenticity has nothing to do with test groups or tracking. Authenticity is like having 11 toes. You either have it, or you don't. Authenticity is your ability to let your brand's true personality shine through the messaging.
2.Inviting Your audience needs to feel like they can interact with your brand. Gen Y hates being told what to do. A brand that offers open dialogue is a brand that isn't easily dismissed by a distracted Gen Yer. I'm not talking about the suggestion box mentality either. Gen Y expects to see their name alongside of your brand. You need to go far enough to literally include members of your audience in your brand.
3.Casual The business suit of Gen Y is jeans. Even formal industries see the importance of casualness when targeting Gen Y. The funny thing is that Gen Y doesn't find their jeans to be casual. It's just how they are, which brings us back to authenticity.
Look deep within your brand and try to objectively evaluate its position in your marketing. You can't fake these things, but you can dig deep and discover the true voice of your brand. Can you get the job in five seconds? If not, then you have a lot of work to do.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Two Words: Event Marketing
This is a great idea for media clients who want to engage teens...Philip..
By Lauren Zaner Thursday, December 17, 2009
In an age where teens have the ability to access information in a multitude of media, including the Internet, cell phones, TV, print and more, it has become increasingly difficult for brands to differentiate themselves among one of the most savvy and picky demographics. How can brands stand out from the competition and create a lasting connection with teenagers? Two words: Event Marketing.
Put a sample of a product in a teenager's hand and, sure, if they like it, they are more likely to purchase versus sight unseen. Give that same teen a sample and an experience with the brand and the purchase intent increases even more. Event marketing has taken product sampling and given it 3-D and surround-sound. It gives brands a chance to create an experience based memory.
Event marketing allows a brand to hand-pick the most appropriate venue to reach a very specific consumer and tailor its activation to fit that lifestyle. Teens are like wolves; they travel in large packs. Where you see one indie rock-loving, skinny jean-wearing teen, or young fashionista, you are bound to see dozens or hundreds more. This makes it easy to pick and choose where a brand can tap into, and successfully execute event marketing. However, as event marketing creates a more lasting impression, it is just as easy for that impression to be negative versus positive. There are a few key points to keep in mind when utilizing events to market to teens successfully.
Authenticity.Event marketing gives a brand a lot of freedom to get a little crazy. Teens have become very discerning. The key is to thoroughly research the likes and dislikes of the group of teens you are specifically targeting. For instance, if you are going after 15-year-old baseball playing males, trucker hats with the brand on them as a premium would be a huge miss. Teens can see right through poorly researched and executed brand marketing attempts, especially when it's experiential. There's little room for error.
Don't Hold Back. If you are going to use the awesome power of event marketing, do it right. Work with a creative team or agency that specializes in youth marketing or, even more specifically, the target market within the teen demographic. If you are sponsoring an event, don't cut corners on execution. If you are executing a buzz or guerilla strategy, make sure you aren't doing something that's been done before ... they will know.
By Lauren Zaner Thursday, December 17, 2009
In an age where teens have the ability to access information in a multitude of media, including the Internet, cell phones, TV, print and more, it has become increasingly difficult for brands to differentiate themselves among one of the most savvy and picky demographics. How can brands stand out from the competition and create a lasting connection with teenagers? Two words: Event Marketing.
Put a sample of a product in a teenager's hand and, sure, if they like it, they are more likely to purchase versus sight unseen. Give that same teen a sample and an experience with the brand and the purchase intent increases even more. Event marketing has taken product sampling and given it 3-D and surround-sound. It gives brands a chance to create an experience based memory.
Event marketing allows a brand to hand-pick the most appropriate venue to reach a very specific consumer and tailor its activation to fit that lifestyle. Teens are like wolves; they travel in large packs. Where you see one indie rock-loving, skinny jean-wearing teen, or young fashionista, you are bound to see dozens or hundreds more. This makes it easy to pick and choose where a brand can tap into, and successfully execute event marketing. However, as event marketing creates a more lasting impression, it is just as easy for that impression to be negative versus positive. There are a few key points to keep in mind when utilizing events to market to teens successfully.
Authenticity.Event marketing gives a brand a lot of freedom to get a little crazy. Teens have become very discerning. The key is to thoroughly research the likes and dislikes of the group of teens you are specifically targeting. For instance, if you are going after 15-year-old baseball playing males, trucker hats with the brand on them as a premium would be a huge miss. Teens can see right through poorly researched and executed brand marketing attempts, especially when it's experiential. There's little room for error.
Don't Hold Back. If you are going to use the awesome power of event marketing, do it right. Work with a creative team or agency that specializes in youth marketing or, even more specifically, the target market within the teen demographic. If you are sponsoring an event, don't cut corners on execution. If you are executing a buzz or guerilla strategy, make sure you aren't doing something that's been done before ... they will know.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
10 Tips for Saving Your Life From Your Business
OK..it's Hanukkah...Christmas, Kwanza and a whole New Year and new beginnings coming up...and you may feel like you can't get anything accomplished to meet sales budgets, target tasks, the amount of the company's growth objectives you and the management team set up this past year as well as making those key personnel hires you need as well as shredding those who are just taking up space and you promise yourself and the sales managers to get it done in 2010 no matter what! Well..sit back and take a breath and look at what I found that may make life and your business plan a lot more focused and enjoyable...Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.
by Tim Berry on December 15, 2009
in Advice, Back to Fundamentals, Entrepreneurship, Reflections, Work Life Balance. Your business or your life? The nagging question comes up a lot. Recently I saw this startling statement:
Maximizing your chance for success means sacrificing health and family.
That was in this post by Jason Cohen on VentureBeat. He’s serious. He quotes Mark Cuban and one other successful entrepreneur. He says you can’t get it all done otherwise. Build your business first, then build your life. Yeah, right. Like business gets easier at some point? When it grows? Good luck with that.
Logical flaw: for every successful entrepreneur who cites sacrificing health and family as the key to success, there are 10 others who say sacrificing health and family is a tragic mistake. Another logical flaw: millions of people sacrificed health and family and weren’t successful. All their sacrifice did was ruin their lives. Nobody quotes them. They call that survivor bias.
Personally, I don’t buy the passion, obsession, sacrifice all for your business philosophy. Success in life can be something different than purely sales, growth, profits, and celebrity as an entrepreneurial success. Not many of us end up as top-ten world-class entrepreneurs, and, for the rest of us, having a life can be way more important. The sacrifice doesn’t cause success. It’s a rationalization. So I’d like to suggest two sets of rules to help you save your life from your business. The first five are fundamental rules. The second set, five more, are suggestions more than rules; different ways to think about things; reminders.
First, the five fundamentals. I consider these practical, realistic, actionable rules that are good for everybody. For the record, four of the five are rules that I’ve lived with for a long time. Two of them thanks go to my wife and not me; and the fifth, the exercise one, I learned the hard way, by not doing it. I promise you that you can live by all five and not have to sacrifice business success for any of them. These will help you keep your balance:
Develop and honor meal times with people you love. For me and my wife, as we built our business, it was about family meals, dinner time, once a day. We made the family dinner a priority. During crunch times, we’d stop, have dinner with our kids, and then go on later (see point 3, below). And you don’t need a marriage and children to make this rule important. Do it your way, not mine. It applies just as well to any relationship that’s important to you.
Schedule vacations long in advance. If you like what you do in your business, you’re always going to have trouble getting away. There will always be a good business reason to not go on vacations. If you’re scheduled long in advance, then the vacation is on the calendar. As you talk to clients, schedule business events, and generally work on the business, your vacation shows up, and you naturally work around it.
Get used to working at home. So you have a lot of work but you tear yourself away, take your dinner time, spend some time in real life, and then later on, when everybody else is watching dumbing and numbing television, you can get back on the computer and catch up with your obsession. That requires good Internet connection and related tools, like online productivity tools, GoToMyPC, and the like.
Don’t obsess; plan. Don’t wander through the rest of life with business thoughts running through your head like a helicopter background noise in your dreams. Take a few deep breaths. To get the business-helicopter-mind out of your head keep the planning realistic. Planning gets a lot of things out of your head and into the plan. When you wake up at night obsessing, go to your planning. Write it down. Relax, and go back to sleep.
Get regular exercise. I’ve been there: It’s so easy to put off exercise because you’re worried about the business. “I have too much to do, I don’t have time for exercise,” you tell yourself, and it becomes a rationalization to dive back into that project or those emails. But there’s a trick to exercise: you get more time back, in productivity, than what you put into the exercise. Seriously: put in 45 minutes 3-4 days a week and you’ll get back an hour of productive time for every half hour you spend. It has to do with sleep, stress, and mental health.
And then, after the fundamentals, five fine touches, embellishments, not-so-universal, but maybe still useful:
Do something you can believe in. It’s not just finding the best business opportunity; it’s finding one you believe in. There’s quality of work as well as quantity, and high quality makes high quantity easier to live with. Make sure that when you take a step back from it, every so often, you can see how what you do made other lives better.
Acknowledge risk. Don’t bet what you can’t afford to lose. Understand the risk you take. Talk about it with the other people in your life, so you don’t feel all alone with the risk. Think about the worst case. Learn to live with it.
Don’t clam up. Share carefully. Be able to talk about business problems, safely, with at least one other person in your life. Get out of the let’s solve them mode, and into the let’s just talk about them so creative juices can percolate. People who care about you take silence as being something like walls and barriers. Secrets are stressful. Sharing relieves stress. But be careful, mind the framework and parameters of sharing, people have to know when you don’t want to be told the obvious feedback.
Understand that you make mistakes. Acknowledge your mistakes, analyze them, and them package them up in your mind and store them somewhere out of site, somewhere where you can access them occasionally to help avoid making the same mistakes again, but, on the other hand, where they won’t just drive you crazy.
Tell the truth. Then you don’t have to keep track of which lies you told to which people. It’s hard enough to manage stress without having to manage complex alternate realities.
None of the above guarantees business success, but none of it is really going to get in the way of your success either, and it may help you stay sane in the meantime. Think about this: my wife taught me, early in our 40-year-marriage, that time is the scarcest resource, way scarcer than money. And some day you’re going to turn 60. Unless you die first.
by Tim Berry on December 15, 2009
in Advice, Back to Fundamentals, Entrepreneurship, Reflections, Work Life Balance. Your business or your life? The nagging question comes up a lot. Recently I saw this startling statement:
Maximizing your chance for success means sacrificing health and family.
That was in this post by Jason Cohen on VentureBeat. He’s serious. He quotes Mark Cuban and one other successful entrepreneur. He says you can’t get it all done otherwise. Build your business first, then build your life. Yeah, right. Like business gets easier at some point? When it grows? Good luck with that.
Logical flaw: for every successful entrepreneur who cites sacrificing health and family as the key to success, there are 10 others who say sacrificing health and family is a tragic mistake. Another logical flaw: millions of people sacrificed health and family and weren’t successful. All their sacrifice did was ruin their lives. Nobody quotes them. They call that survivor bias.
Personally, I don’t buy the passion, obsession, sacrifice all for your business philosophy. Success in life can be something different than purely sales, growth, profits, and celebrity as an entrepreneurial success. Not many of us end up as top-ten world-class entrepreneurs, and, for the rest of us, having a life can be way more important. The sacrifice doesn’t cause success. It’s a rationalization. So I’d like to suggest two sets of rules to help you save your life from your business. The first five are fundamental rules. The second set, five more, are suggestions more than rules; different ways to think about things; reminders.
First, the five fundamentals. I consider these practical, realistic, actionable rules that are good for everybody. For the record, four of the five are rules that I’ve lived with for a long time. Two of them thanks go to my wife and not me; and the fifth, the exercise one, I learned the hard way, by not doing it. I promise you that you can live by all five and not have to sacrifice business success for any of them. These will help you keep your balance:
Develop and honor meal times with people you love. For me and my wife, as we built our business, it was about family meals, dinner time, once a day. We made the family dinner a priority. During crunch times, we’d stop, have dinner with our kids, and then go on later (see point 3, below). And you don’t need a marriage and children to make this rule important. Do it your way, not mine. It applies just as well to any relationship that’s important to you.
Schedule vacations long in advance. If you like what you do in your business, you’re always going to have trouble getting away. There will always be a good business reason to not go on vacations. If you’re scheduled long in advance, then the vacation is on the calendar. As you talk to clients, schedule business events, and generally work on the business, your vacation shows up, and you naturally work around it.
Get used to working at home. So you have a lot of work but you tear yourself away, take your dinner time, spend some time in real life, and then later on, when everybody else is watching dumbing and numbing television, you can get back on the computer and catch up with your obsession. That requires good Internet connection and related tools, like online productivity tools, GoToMyPC, and the like.
Don’t obsess; plan. Don’t wander through the rest of life with business thoughts running through your head like a helicopter background noise in your dreams. Take a few deep breaths. To get the business-helicopter-mind out of your head keep the planning realistic. Planning gets a lot of things out of your head and into the plan. When you wake up at night obsessing, go to your planning. Write it down. Relax, and go back to sleep.
Get regular exercise. I’ve been there: It’s so easy to put off exercise because you’re worried about the business. “I have too much to do, I don’t have time for exercise,” you tell yourself, and it becomes a rationalization to dive back into that project or those emails. But there’s a trick to exercise: you get more time back, in productivity, than what you put into the exercise. Seriously: put in 45 minutes 3-4 days a week and you’ll get back an hour of productive time for every half hour you spend. It has to do with sleep, stress, and mental health.
And then, after the fundamentals, five fine touches, embellishments, not-so-universal, but maybe still useful:
Do something you can believe in. It’s not just finding the best business opportunity; it’s finding one you believe in. There’s quality of work as well as quantity, and high quality makes high quantity easier to live with. Make sure that when you take a step back from it, every so often, you can see how what you do made other lives better.
Acknowledge risk. Don’t bet what you can’t afford to lose. Understand the risk you take. Talk about it with the other people in your life, so you don’t feel all alone with the risk. Think about the worst case. Learn to live with it.
Don’t clam up. Share carefully. Be able to talk about business problems, safely, with at least one other person in your life. Get out of the let’s solve them mode, and into the let’s just talk about them so creative juices can percolate. People who care about you take silence as being something like walls and barriers. Secrets are stressful. Sharing relieves stress. But be careful, mind the framework and parameters of sharing, people have to know when you don’t want to be told the obvious feedback.
Understand that you make mistakes. Acknowledge your mistakes, analyze them, and them package them up in your mind and store them somewhere out of site, somewhere where you can access them occasionally to help avoid making the same mistakes again, but, on the other hand, where they won’t just drive you crazy.
Tell the truth. Then you don’t have to keep track of which lies you told to which people. It’s hard enough to manage stress without having to manage complex alternate realities.
None of the above guarantees business success, but none of it is really going to get in the way of your success either, and it may help you stay sane in the meantime. Think about this: my wife taught me, early in our 40-year-marriage, that time is the scarcest resource, way scarcer than money. And some day you’re going to turn 60. Unless you die first.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Retail Sales Up in November for Third Month in Last Four
Good times seems to be starting again for media marketing executives as ad revenues are beginning to stabilize with manager's sales volume reports based on the stronger spot sales booked in 1st quarter. The report is inclusive of advance sales booked from multi-media platforms inclusive of mobile and Internet, being part of TV and radio management reporting as of the end of November. Phiip J. LeNoble, Ph.D............
FOX Business December 11, 2009
U.S. consumers stepped up their spending in November and grew more optimistic this month, data showed on Friday, raising hopes a self-sustaining economic recovery was starting to unfold.
The Commerce Department said total retail sales increased 1.3% last month, the largest advance since August, after rising 1.1% in October. It was the second straight monthly gain and beat market expectations for a 0.7% gain.
A separate report showed consumer sentiment improved in early December on signs of stabilization in the labor market.
The data were the latest in a series showing the economy may expand at a brisker pace in the fourth quarter than the 2.8% annual rate in the July-September period.
"The improvement in confidence is a complement to the good retail sales. It suggests that the consumer is slowly turning upward," said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist, Ridgeworth Investments in Richmond, Virginia
The data lifted U.S stock indexes and the U.S. dollar rose sharply against the yen and euro.
The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its preliminary index of sentiment for December rose to 73.4, just a touch below the year's high set in September. This was above the 67.4 for November and exceeded economists' expectations of a reading of 68.5.
The data eased concerns that the economy's recovery could falter because of lackluster consumer spending. The economy resumed growing in the third quarter, fueled mostly by government stimulus.
With the labor market starting to stabilize and household wealth rising, there is growing optimism that consumer spending will soon pick up.
CONSUMERS RAMPING UP SPENDING
Overall sales in November were boosted by strong receipts from gasoline stations, increased purchases of motor vehicles and parts, building materials and electronic goods among others.
"The numbers were a pleasant surprise. Consumers are starting to spend a little more freely than they have been and that is going to be an important source of sustainable growth," said David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities International in New York.
Despite slightly lower gasoline prices at the end of November from the end of October, sales at service stations surged 6%, the largest increase since June.
Compared to November last year, overall retail sales were up 1.9%, the first year-on-year gain since August 2008, a Commerce official said.
Some analysts said the unexpectedly strong data could cause problems for the U.S. Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank, which meets next week, has committed to keep interest rates near zero for an "extended period", while watching to see if the recovery will pick up steam.
"The big picture ... is that the recovery looks to be more on track. That combination of improvements in the labor market and improvements in consumer spending is a strong signal that we're not at this point entering into a double-dip scenario," said Torsten Slok, senior economist at Deutsche Bank in New York.
"There is definitely a significant upside risk here that we will have a stronger recovery than what the Fed and what the consensus was expecting. That's probably causing headaches ... the thing that's at the center of their radar screen is when should we remove the 'extended period' language."
Excluding motor vehicles and parts, retail sales increased 1.2% in November, the largest increase since January, after being flat in October. Economists had expected a 0.4% increase.
Core retail sales excluding autos, gasoline and building materials rose 0.6%, advancing for a fifth straight month.
"Spending is increasing, which is good, but we'll see how sustainable it is," said Kurt Brunner, portfolio manager at Swarthmore Group in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Sales of building materials climbed 1.5% last month, the biggest gain since April 2008, after falling 1.8% in October. Purchases of electronics and appliances jumped 2.8%, the largest increase since January.
Another government showed report U.S. business inventories unexpectedly rose in October for the first time in more than a year.
FOX Business December 11, 2009
U.S. consumers stepped up their spending in November and grew more optimistic this month, data showed on Friday, raising hopes a self-sustaining economic recovery was starting to unfold.
The Commerce Department said total retail sales increased 1.3% last month, the largest advance since August, after rising 1.1% in October. It was the second straight monthly gain and beat market expectations for a 0.7% gain.
A separate report showed consumer sentiment improved in early December on signs of stabilization in the labor market.
The data were the latest in a series showing the economy may expand at a brisker pace in the fourth quarter than the 2.8% annual rate in the July-September period.
"The improvement in confidence is a complement to the good retail sales. It suggests that the consumer is slowly turning upward," said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist, Ridgeworth Investments in Richmond, Virginia
The data lifted U.S stock indexes and the U.S. dollar rose sharply against the yen and euro.
The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its preliminary index of sentiment for December rose to 73.4, just a touch below the year's high set in September. This was above the 67.4 for November and exceeded economists' expectations of a reading of 68.5.
The data eased concerns that the economy's recovery could falter because of lackluster consumer spending. The economy resumed growing in the third quarter, fueled mostly by government stimulus.
With the labor market starting to stabilize and household wealth rising, there is growing optimism that consumer spending will soon pick up.
CONSUMERS RAMPING UP SPENDING
Overall sales in November were boosted by strong receipts from gasoline stations, increased purchases of motor vehicles and parts, building materials and electronic goods among others.
"The numbers were a pleasant surprise. Consumers are starting to spend a little more freely than they have been and that is going to be an important source of sustainable growth," said David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities International in New York.
Despite slightly lower gasoline prices at the end of November from the end of October, sales at service stations surged 6%, the largest increase since June.
Compared to November last year, overall retail sales were up 1.9%, the first year-on-year gain since August 2008, a Commerce official said.
Some analysts said the unexpectedly strong data could cause problems for the U.S. Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank, which meets next week, has committed to keep interest rates near zero for an "extended period", while watching to see if the recovery will pick up steam.
"The big picture ... is that the recovery looks to be more on track. That combination of improvements in the labor market and improvements in consumer spending is a strong signal that we're not at this point entering into a double-dip scenario," said Torsten Slok, senior economist at Deutsche Bank in New York.
"There is definitely a significant upside risk here that we will have a stronger recovery than what the Fed and what the consensus was expecting. That's probably causing headaches ... the thing that's at the center of their radar screen is when should we remove the 'extended period' language."
Excluding motor vehicles and parts, retail sales increased 1.2% in November, the largest increase since January, after being flat in October. Economists had expected a 0.4% increase.
Core retail sales excluding autos, gasoline and building materials rose 0.6%, advancing for a fifth straight month.
"Spending is increasing, which is good, but we'll see how sustainable it is," said Kurt Brunner, portfolio manager at Swarthmore Group in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Sales of building materials climbed 1.5% last month, the biggest gain since April 2008, after falling 1.8% in October. Purchases of electronics and appliances jumped 2.8%, the largest increase since January.
Another government showed report U.S. business inventories unexpectedly rose in October for the first time in more than a year.
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