by Belinda Lui | Nov 15, 2013 | Latest, Management
Project management is the ability to manage projects, and it is a true artform.
It seems like such an easy task to do, but it isn’t. In today’s fast paced environment, staying on top of the many demands, isn’t as easy at is sounds. True, some industries are more hectic than others, however, all industries have been impacted by the speed of business. We’ve all heard how “Time is Money” – and it doesn’t make it less true just because you’ve heard it a million times.
This is especially true in a billable hours setting when reporting time-spent on work is an integral part of your business. Clients trust that a business will not undercut them and lie about how much time it took to complete a task, but they also expect that the company they hire will manage projects in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.
This is where being organized comes in: you can be smart, fast, sales-focused and all that jazz – but none of it matters if you can’t stay organized. So before getting certified as a PMP, here are some tips on how to be an excellent Project Manager and manage projects effectively, effortlessly:
1. Understand The Project Intimately:
It is crucial to truly understand the task at hand before delivering any promises to your client. There are several elements that come into play when you are organizing a successful project: budget, logistics, time, labour, suppliers, vendors, revisions, etc. Ensure that you have a grasp of what is involved in order to execute a more seamless project.
2. Create A Workback Schedule:
Working backwards seems unnatural – but when you consider the only inflexible element, the deadline of the project, then you’ll understand why everything stems from there. It will also give you a better idea of how much time you actually have for every deliverable that needs to happen before the deadline.
3. Expect The Unexpected:
Murphy’s Law had it right – if something bad can happen, it will. When you are planning a project, expect that there will be several rounds of revisions; a supplier may not deliver on time; the printer will malfunction. My point is: give yourself some wiggle room in case something (and it probably will) bad happens.
Being proactive rather than reactive is a good skill set to have when you need to manage projects. Anticipate that things will go wrong and always stay on top of every task. Project management is an integral part of being successful, regardless of your position or industry. Manage projects or they’ll manage you.
What are some of the effective methods you have used to manage projects successfully?
by Lisa Wedmann | Nov 14, 2013 | Business Success, Latest
Developing successful client relationships has never been “easy” work. At 3H, we have had the privilege of having worked with some great clients over the last 25 years. It’s always a pleasure… at least mostly! We have had the opportunity to create successful campaigns delivering on our promise of always putting out awesome creative and, quite frankly, it feels great. Sure, we may have bumps and challenges along the way but when everything is said and done clients are genuinely happy about the success of the job.
And when our clients are happy, we at 3H are very happy campers.
When on time and on budget does not mean success… or does it?
Conversely, we’ve probably all worked for that other type of client. The one who is never happy. For them, it’s not enough that you bring the project in on time and on budget and that you produce some awesome result. It doesn’t matter what you do, they won’t let on that you did a great job. But really do they need to say it?
Client Relationships and the secret to make your client happy.
There’s a secret that’s saved our sanity countless times. There is a simple way to keep your client happy and to confirm mutual success. It’s called success criteria. Success criteria is a group of objectives used to define tangible business outcomes on which the success of the project is judged. Success criteria is used to establish what makes the project completion successful and to confirm that you have met your goals. Success criteria is defined at the beginning of the job. It establishes the definition of success of the project.
Defining success criteria is simple: Be specific.
There is one simple question you must ask your client in order to define your success criteria. “When and how do we know we’ve done a great job?” It’s the answer to this one question that will tell you what it takes to make your client happy and your project a success.
That’s easy, many say just increase sales. But that’s not good enough of an answer. You must be able to measure success criteria. So instead, you need to quantify the statement. It must be measurable. Agree that when you increase sales by 5% then the project is a success. But don’t stop here. Even this measure leaves you open to risk. You must include a time measurement. Increase sales 5% by the third quarter.
Success is obvious and your client is happy.
In order to know where you stand and keep your client happy, define success criteria at the beginning of every project. At the end, you can meet with your client and both agree that your project was a success.Your client will know that you met your objectives and you will know where you stand. There is no question or doubt.
Your client is successfully happy whether they tell you or not… and that makes you happy too!
by Belinda Lui | Nov 12, 2013 | Latest, Marketing
In the saturated world of retail marketing, how can you ensure that you will be seen and heard?
There has been a noticeable shift in Retail space over the past five years: a face-lift, if you will, on mass retailers such as Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), Holt Renfrew, and several other major brands. Along with the refresh in storefront appeal, a lot of these brands have also created Smartphone applications and social media fan pages to reinforce their image and sales strategies.
For these retailers, what does it mean to have new competition enter the arena? With emerging brand re-designs, it just takes that much more to stand out. This is where a succinct and detailed brand strategy and an effective social media plan can ensure a more fruitful ROI. Design an effective retail marketing strategy today:
Bonnie Brooks, President and CEO of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), has completely turned the department store into one that deserves an honorable mention. Adopting big name designers, gaining exclusivity to having Top Shop in a couple of HBC locations has already put them ahead of the game. In 5 short years, Brooks has managed to re-position the department store and make it a must-go destination when shopping.
Retail Marketing and more specifically, promotion doesn’t stop at POP banners and weekly flyers, however.
The Hudson’s Bay has a 6.5k following on Instagram. Holt Renfrew has 38k followers on Instagram.Retailers know that to expand their reach, they must turn to the Internet and create an online community to reinforce the offline one.
For a retail company, it’s arguably easier to gain a following on social media sites such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook – and a little more difficult for those who are marketing services (in some cases) to gain traction amongst followers. But in tandem with my previous post (communication in the social age), knowing your audience and understanding their interests and behaviour will give you a vantage point in marketing to them.
Even in social media, there must be consistency and a call-out to one’s brand image. It isn’t ever just posting for the sake of posting. Remember: everything that is viewed in the social media will lead to conclusions being drawn and will either reflect positively or negatively on your brand. Make sure you understand this before posting.
So how do smaller, specialty stores make an impact on the social community? Arguably, social media has afforded smaller brands to make a big impact simply by designing an effective communications strategy that reinforces their brand. I’m convinced that successful social media plans have less to do with the product/service they’re selling and more to do with the impression they leave with the community.
Consider for a moment Canadian fashionista Jaclyn Genovese (Owner, JacFlash, 1036 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1H7, jacflash.net). With a knack for all things fashion and trendy, she has managed to run a flagship store in Toronto as well as a successful e-commerce site. To reinforce her business, she has a substantial 7.2K following on Instagram (@jaclyngenovese) where she doesn’t only promote product but she also promotes herself as the face of JacFlash – and rightfully so, she’s gorgeous.
Running campaigns with hashtags: #fallcontest #HBCrewards, for example are effective ways to trend on sites like Twitter and Instagram. This has proven effective for more than just marketing campaigns; hashtags have been used to organize guest photos at events like weddings.
Although a lot of brands have caught on to this trend and manage excellent social media plans, there are still a lot of companies that need to get on board.
What are some of your favourite brands to follow?
by Lisa Wedmann | Nov 10, 2013 | Advertising, Latest
In my opinion cause marketing is the most satisfying type of marketing for any business, large or small. It’s a chance to help their favourite charity and enables businesses, ultimately, to make money.
What is cause marketing? At its simplest form it’s the request for a charity donation at a grocery checkout. You may have participated in a food drive at a local store. This is cause marketing.
When a store links their business to a charity, they raise awareness, involve the community and make money for the cause. The good news is that through their cause marketing support, their company that is associating itself to that cause, aldo benefits in the same ways as the said charity.
Cause Marketing: A win-win
Through cause marketing businesses inadvertently (or not), create awareness towards their brand or business by increasing social engagement all the while MAKE MONEY for the chosen charity. The increased awareness and social engagement bodes well for business and business persona. It shows commitment and develops ties within the community. The bonus: business can help with a cause in which they believe in. Talk about a winning situation.
Some of the largest and most successful companies devote a lot of time and money to supporting and highlighting their cause marketing efforts. TD Canada Trust has their “Friends of the Environment”, Tim Hortons has their “Send a Kid to Camp” and McDonalds has their “Ronald McDonald House”.
Ultimately the cynics out there will look at the obvious… afterall there has to be a financially sound reason for these companies to invest in cause marketing. If these companies didn’t make money, they wouldn’t be able to show this type of support. Well yes in no.
The truth of the matter is that it’s pretty hard to fake cause marketing.
Although some cynics may find it mercenary that companies make money on the coattails of the charities. But on the other hand, it’s pretty hard to fake this type of relationship. Charities believe in what they do. They have a message for the world and they want to get their message out as much as the businesses that support the cause.
When people are giving to charity they are also recognizing your business as trustworthy and committed to the community. As marketer we all know what happens when people recognize and have faith in your business, don’t we?
Cause Marketing is a unique opportunity for businesses to gain awareness and build top of mind recognition with the ultimate goal of promotion sales and hence make money . But those businesses are also good because they do good.
Now that just has to feel good doesn’t it?
by Belinda Lui | Nov 6, 2013 | Communications, Latest
Communication is key.
In all of our relationships, the ability to effectively communicate is crucial to the success of overcoming obstacles. So what do we do when the forms of communication have changed drastically over the past two decades: from conversations over the phone to text messaging; from physical photo albums to sharing images on Instagram; from scrapbooking to repinning on Pinterest; from breaking news at 6pm to getting information at rapid speeds on Twitter.
This shift in communication has changed the way that people communicate but also the way businesses reach their audience.
And in the same way we approach the improvement of our relationships, it is important to outline the key points to effectively communicating to our target audience:
1. Understand your audience:
Never begin a marketing project without first understanding who you’re marketing to. Learn their interests, purchasing behaviour, modes of communication, etc. It is a waste of time to develop any strategy based on assumptions. Knowing your audience gives you the advantage of effectively strategizing the optimal methods in which your audience will be most receptive to. There is never a one-size-fits-all method.
2. Communicate in a way that your audience is comfortable with – not in the way that you are:
There are a lot of companies that prefer the traditional ways of marketing without as much as a hint of interest in learning new methods. The reality is that the world keeps changing around us; and to keep up, we need to change with it. Hashtags, digital media, Smartphone applications – to name a few – are all new additions to the way we market. The Internet has provided businesses with limitless opportunities to reach almost anyone, anywhere, and at anytime. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of this marketing tool?
3. Content, content, content:
In real estate, it’s all about location. In marketing, it’s all about content. How relevant is the material you are using to the consumer in which you are targeting? The Internet serves as an excellent medium to connecting with your audience but with the over-saturation of available information, relevance is also key. The popularity of your posts and the virality of it depend heavily on how relatable they are and the stick factor. Create memorable content – but be sure to integrate relevance into your design.
4. Analysis:
You’ve posted a memorable and relevant message to your Facebook page – now what? It isn’t enough to just post riveting material: we must also gauge the way our audience responds to it. Which types of posts are generating the most buzz? What are the optimal times to post? Are your posts being liked and shared, or is it engaging your followers to comment? Ideally, you will design activations that connect with your audience in all ways (like, share, comment).
5. Follow-up:
Creating posts that allow your followers to create a community amongst themselves is beneficial to your brand – but it is equally important for you to be a part of that community. It is easy for things to slip through the cracks, so it is crucial that you’re paying attention to what your customers are saying (to you and to each other). All comments (good or bad) should be addressed within 24 hours.
In summation, a solid and effective communications strategy can benefit your brand in more ways than you can imagine: keep it simple, open, and relevant. Deliver on your brand promise and in a timely manner. These are just five ways to help improve your communications strategy. In the world of marketing and business development, the options are ever-changing; but the principles remain the same.
Which methods have you found to be effective?
by Miriam Hara | Nov 5, 2013 | Latest, Social Media
There’s much ado about content management these days. In fact, it’s the new buzz word in the social media and marketing landscape. With so many business and brand managers just grappling with the ever-changing dynamics of the worldwide internet and what it means for their business and brand portfolios, content management is yet another aspect of this evolving channel that they need to understand. Content Management is the umbrella of the social media marketing landscape, where content creation strategy plays a significant role under that umbrella.
Like all initiatives in marketing, and more specifically, advertising, achieving critical mass is extremely important in social media. By now, I believe many businesses have come to terms with the fact that social media takes a lot of time and effort. In business terms, that means it’s not free, but nor is it inexpensive. In order for social media initiatives to work, clear goals need to be defined and closely tied into clear and precise strategy. This is what we, at 3H, refer to as Content Creation Strategy. In the social media arena, being without a plan that outlines specific strategy means that businesses are essentially just shooting at random.
Here’s a quick overview of a Content Creation Strategy.
Define your audience: As with marketing, a clear and concise statement of who your target is, is essential. Without it, you are just pushing out content without intent. The beauty of social media is that you can aim… very specifically. Hallelujah! Niche marketing is where it’s at, especially in social media. Why not take advantage of it? Mine the internet and find other like-minded and complementary sites that also speak to your target audience. Define your target: not only by where they go, but by what they do and what they like.
Create a plan: Content creation, like advertising, needs to have a plan. What are the relevant topics for your brand or business? Are there key cycles that you need to build up to and are important? In traditional advertising, if February was Heart Health month, then all the major brands with something to “sell” in heart health would be advertising in February. In the social media environment, there’s no need for that. Slow builds to peak event activity garners greater rewards. At 3H, we establish social media calendars, months in advance. This doesn’t mean that it is set in stone, but the ability to be nimble and flexible on a moment’s notice is key.
Mix it up: Content creation doesn’t only speak to words, blog posts, posts on Facebook, or discussion comments on LinkedIn. Make sure that you blend in a mix of visual(photos) and if possible, video as well. Once you engage in the social media platform, you’ll be surprised how many consumers you have that are your advocates already; sending photos, testimonials and videos and allowing you to share them on your social media properties.
Know where to be: Part of any solid strategy is knowing where to be seen. Assessing the true value of each social media property is essential as well as understanding the must-have versus the nice-to-have. There are so many properties… yet, so little budget. Assess the need to be on every social media property versus the key properties; building towards achieving a broader range and greater reach. That’s what strategy is all about.
If you haven’t established a content creation strategy for your brand or business, then stop what you’re doing… and do it now. Marketing is all about efficiencies, and a content creation strategy plays right into that. Content creation does reap rewards and does provide ROI, but only if, there’s clear objectives and strategy behind the content.
