by Miriam Hara | May 22, 2013 | Branding, Business Success, Latest
Ever wonder how Google came up with its name? Did they think the name Google would become synonymous with information sourcing, referencing, mapping and everything in between? Is there some sort of history behind the name, or was it just a random choice?
Many business start-ups make much ado about what they should name their business… and so they should. Like everything else in business, you need to go through a process:
1) Define your business. What is it? What makes it unique?
2) Define your 3 to 5 year business objective. If you’re a consultant, it could be that using your own name is a good start…but what about after you start? If you want to eventually provide more than one to one consulting, maybe your name just won’t cut it.
3) Who is your target group? What’s their demographics…and don’t forget their psychographics.
4) Research the competition and see what names are out there in the same industry and geographical area. (Just Google it!)
5) Brainstorm and come up with a list of 10 names.
6) Take these 10 names and verify to see if the URL is taken, and if so by whom.
7) Verify if the name is trademarked within your industry and within your geographical area.
8) Get objective feedback for your top 4 names. Research for start-ups has become more affordable for business start-ups with software such as Survey Monkey and panel online advertising.
There’s much ado about the naming of businesses. I am of the opinion that the name is important, but what you do with that name is even more so. How are you launching? What media channels are you using? What’s your brand character, brand voice and how is that represented in your communications. Being first to market and being very visible when you are first to market is definitely the best approach to reap the benefits of longevity and recognition. Just to name a few: Kleenex, Coke…. and of course Google!
And just to close the opening thought of this post, I actually googled how Google got its name. Like all things in Google-like, I had many sources to choose from. The first link I clicked on was http://www.question.com/how-did-google-get-its-name-10903.html. Interestingly, I learnt that the definition of Google is quite appropriate for Google. The name Google is based on the mathematical term “googol”, coined in 1938 to equal 10100, a number larger than any practical counting operation would require.
From a wiki.answers.com, I also got more of an anecdotal story: In September, 1997, so the story goes, some Stanford grad students were helping Larry Page choose a name for his search engine. “Googolplex,” said Sean Anderson. (They’d already sensed how big this could become.) “Googol,” Page replied. Anderson, checking to see if the name was taken, typed g-o-o-g-l-e into his browser and made the most famous spelling mistake since p-o-t-a-t-o-e. Page registered the name within hours, and today, Google isn’t a typo, it’s a verb, one with a market cap of about $160 billion.
Fact or fiction, it doesn’t really matter…what matters is that Google provided an innovative product that revolutionized how information was being delivered to the masses… I doubt the notoriety or the business outcome would of been different if their name was Googol.
by Miriam Hara | May 21, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Latest, Miriamisms
We’ve all read it and heard it… over 50% of business start ups fail in the first 5 years. There’s a number of reasons why that happens. Rather dwelling on the negative, I rather look at the inverse and say 50% of business that do start up, are in fact, still around after 5 years. Why is that so? From my perspective, having started up a business start up 25 years ago, there are a few must-do philosophies that can be attributed to business success and longevity. Here are a few visual biz-isms from 3 ebooks published last year: Marketing Understood, Branding Understood and Social Media Understood.
Establish your definition of success before you start.
Objectives provide you with the measurement of success
Add Value.
Price becomes an issue at the absence of value
Take care of your clients, customers, audience, community.
What’s in it for them
Good enough… never is.
Raise the bar…everyday.
Don’t wink in the dark…you’re the only one who will know what you’re doing. Communicate!
Talk to your target!
You’re intimate with your business. Your consumers aren’t.
Know your audience.
You don’t know it all.
Don’t rely on conventional wisdom.
Deadlines aren’t elastic!
Mark your calendar.
Complacency in business means death.
Keep Current.
Believe in what you are creating.
Stay true.
Business in general: Are you just interested or committed?
Be wildly, passionately in love with what you do!
Be realistic.
Don’t over promise and under deliver.
Be passionate, not emotional.
It’s business. It’s not personal.
Businesses need to evolve.
Enable growth.
Business is hard work.
Business Work Out Routine.
If you would like to have all the biz-isms, you can download them here.
by Stephanie Fasulo | May 15, 2013 | Business Success, Interactive, Latest, Social Media
Admit it. At least one time during the course of your social media twitter campaign (or tweeting on your personal account) you’ve asked yourself: what am I going to tweet right now? Even the most experienced social media expert must ask themselves: “geez, what IS going on in the world today?” Great writers get writers block and even the most seasoned novelists need to ask themselves what is their next book series is going to be about. It’s okay to admit that sometimes, we just need some help to find that great content and share it among our communities and Twitter friends. I put together my personal 5 Easy Steps in locating that great content:
Step One: It is important once you’ve logged on to your Twitter account to take time and read the posts your community is sharing. You follow these accounts for a reason, and it is important to stay engaged with them. If you’re mindlessly adding followers and not actually reading their content then you’re not doing it right. The point is to use this information. Share it, spark a conversation or debate; you’ll get some great content to share and you’ll make a few new social relationships in the process.
Step Two: Make a habit of reading the news outlet Twitter accounts. CNN, The Globe and Mail, Huffington Post, Anderson Copper, even Barack Obama just so you know what’s happening and what is going on in the world. Your Twitter content can be diverse and adding some news can add quality to your account and attract other people to read your posts.
Step Three: Bookmark your favourite blogs. We all know in a busy day, life is much more simple when information is a click away. Why not take advantage of that? You’ll be more inclined to look if your daily blog hit-list if it’s staring you in the face and sitting up on your bookmark toolbar. It’s an easy step that can ensure you great content once, twice or three times a day!
Step Four: Think outside the box for inspiration. My personal favourite website to spark some new content is Pinterest. When in doubt, Pinterest is an awesome tool to research techie updates, health topics, recipes and even check out company’s Pinterest accounts. There is also sharing platforms like Reddit, ScoopIt….the list goes on and one. Just pick your favourite.
Step Five: Don’t forget about the real, page flipping hard copies! Magazines, newspaper, essays, and white papers. These are published monthly and the content is forever there ready to read…bringing up old articles and talking about new ones is a great way to be creative with content and find journalists online and share what you’ve read and make a potential new relationship.
Update: This article was written well over 5 years ago…and things have since changed. Here is an updated comprehensive article on “12 Digital Content Strategies To Elevate Any Brand” which adds some timely and relevant value. You can check it out here: https://presentationgeeks.com/blog/12-digital-content-strategies-to-elevate-any-brand/
by Lisa Wedmann | May 14, 2013 | Business Success, Latest
It always amazes me how many start up companies and entrepreneurs operate without a marketing plan. You wouldn’t head out to a destination without at least which direction you are heading or more to the point, input the address on a GPS so you can get there in the most timely way. The purpose of a marketing plan is to articulate where you need to be and define the measurement of success for your business. It provides you with the forum to focus on your business, on your competition, on the current market trends. In short, it makes you do the homework you need to do to get a clear and concise understanding of all the roads and road blocks that will lead to your business’ success…. before you start your engine and put your car into drive.
No matter what size, or type, or whether you are offering a product or a service this “road map” will prove to be invaluable when decisions need to be made. You have a great product or service and you are anxious for everyone to know about it and you want to just get out there and start selling. STOP. Do you have a plan? Do you know when you get there? It always amazes me how many start up companies and entrepreneurs operate without a marketing plan.
In the not so recent past many businesses, start ups, retailers and b2b companies felt that any marketing initiatives were well beyond their reach. To have any impact on their audience, a lot of dollars were needed. Enter Social Media, and businesses everywhere are getting into the “marketing” of their businesses. Which is absolutely wonderful! In today’s business landscape, businesses are all embarking on the Social Media… some with little or no understanding of the true time cost of doing it properly. But I digress,that’s another blog for another time.
Jumping on the band wagon without a clear definition of your value proposition and your unique selling point is dangerous. Equally dangerous is not defining your businesses brand voice, brand tone and brand personality. This is where a marketing plan comes in. The purpose of a marketing plan is to map out the direction of where you need to be… and define the measurement of success for your business… it is essentially this “destination point” which will prove to be invaluable when decisions need to be made.
In this “road map” you need to determine your strategy, identify your priorities and then build out your tactics from there. Start by identifying who your target market is. Define as much as you can: age, sex, profession or career, income level, level of educational attainment and geographic location…. and go farther. Define your target markets likes and dislikes, habits, hobbies. This is the age of niche marketing!
Clearly define your business and set reasonable quantifiable objectives. It’s important to be honest. Don’t set yourself up for failure…be aware of the potential hazards before you start…and when detours happen along the way, your marketing plan will provide you with a solid base to switch gears and turn to an alternative road to get you where you are going… to success!
by Lisa Wedmann | May 10, 2013 | Advertising, Business Success, Creative, Latest, Miriamisms, Social Media
In today’s fast paced, social media world, staying on top of projects and timelines and time management can be a challenge. A HUGE time management challenge. Clients today expect more, in less time. So how do we manage our time, in this fast paced world, without feeling like we are constantly behind and playing catch up?
At 3H, we understand this all to well. We are a boutique agency, with a small, eclectic team. This allows us to be nimble, and turn projects around quickly. On the flip side, we can get swamped quickly…unless we manage ourselves, our clients and our time very carefully. So how do we do this, and continue to turn out first class product?
Make a list – and check it twice! Yes, it can take time to do this. But the time spent on this saves us in the long run. Whether it’s a a critical path or a social media calendar, it’s always vital to take the time and plan it out. Share it with all of your team, so everyone knows what is happening. When we need to juggle projects, having these deadlines and plans at our finger tips is a lifesaver!
Organize! Monday morning, lay out the plan for your week. List weekly tasks, than daily tasks. Each morning review the list and make a note of the 3 priorities for the day.
Communicate! Talk with your clients AND your team. A good leader knows they are only as good as their team and supports their team to do the best job. Their job is to support them to get the work done. Talk with them regularly about how they are doing and feeling, what is going on. At 3H, we have daily, YES daily, production meetings. Sometimes they are 10 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes. The whole team knows what is happening with each project. Problems are discussed and solutions found, together.
Clear the inbox! Your inbox can fill up quickly. A few regular habits will help keep it manageable. When an email arrives, take care of it right away – reply, forward or file it. Take the action and clear it out of your inbox. If you are waiting for an answer on something, leave it in the inbox as a reminder that it needs to be completed. At the end of everyday, take the last 5 to 10 minutes to open and sort all email: what’s completed, what’s done, what needs to be done. This is the start of the next day’s to list.
Delegate. Somet
imes it’s impossible to complete all your tasks on your own. Ask for help. This simple action can keep you from feeling bogged down and keep you on track and organized. Plus, it will build the confidence of your team, and help them to take ownership for projects.
Start a task. Finish a finish. I know this sounds simple, but in the multi-tasking era, how often do we start something, only to haven another emergency come up – and then we take a phone call. While multi-tasking is the norm today, it can lead to unfinished task and projects. It’s important to set time aside everyday to work on tasks and projects.
Finally, and most importantly, be flexible. On the drop of a dime, things can change. It’s important to go with the flow, ask for help, get all the facts and keep moving forward.
When I follow these tips, and stay on top of things, that allows me to be fluid and go with the flow.
How do you manage your time? Do you have any tips to share?
by Devorah Abrams Farmer | May 9, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Creative, Design, Latest, Social Media
Before social media came into existence, many of the things said on today’s blogs, Tweets, and other various social media venues, were said by word of mouth. Messages can become viral by word of mouth up to a point, but how accurate are these messages? Do you remember playing the game “Telephone”, where the message ended up totally different than the original statement? Then again how accurate is what is placed on the Internet?
An excellent example how Tweeter has affected people two years ago is the Arab Spring. The 140 character texts chimed out to thousands and thousands of people during that time. How many people it affected was totally amazing. Lest we forget Facebook was widely used during this time as well. Both of these social media sites also helped people worldwide have a distinct indicator of what was going on in the region.
This effect that social media had on multiple nations and its people, was noticed by businesses. It actually propelled the area of business into a new age. The age where there are immediate photos, voice bits, videos, and phone calls, which now have become the norm. We now have a worldwide society that addresses all markets, and the numerous people who are in them in real -time.
A recent example of social media affecting people and bringing their world to you in real-time, is the Boston Bombing. People Tweeted pictures, video, and sound bites to television media, in a matter of moments, maybe even nano-seconds. The FBI, Homeland Security, and the Boston Police had instant fodder to work with in trying to get the culprits. One man in Waterdown, Massachusetts took pictures and video on his balcony of the firefight that was going on in front of his apartment. He then flew into his bedroom for cover, but lifted his smartphone up to his window and continued to take pictures. These were later used for network and cable television news as well as information for the law enforcement people.
How has social media infected the Internet and the stock market? One incident that occurred recently was a hoax done in poor taste. It was claimed on Tweeter that President Obama was bombed in the Whitehouse. The stock market got hold of this information and for an hour the stock market numbers plummeted. The perpetrator was found and dealt with swiftly. Luckily, the stock market bounced back within an hour. It was an hour of hell for investors with mega-bucks to lose.
How does one prevent being infected like this again? Can a society who yearns for real-time information wait for social media to do some fact checking? Tweeter suspended this infectious account and provided information to the police, but serious damage had already been done. Billions of dollars had been traded for significant losses. Perhaps news like this if not caught in a short time frame does not only infect businesses in North America, but relationships abroad as well. After all in the Arab Spring social media not only brought protestors out into the streets, it toppled governments.
One thing is for sure is this shows people are more engaged than ever before on social media. How does one affect a new market area without accidently infecting social media with superfluous and potentially noxious information?
