I want to share a story with you...
The summer I turned 14-years old, my dad decided he was going to designate the task of cleaning windows to me. I was to go around the entire house and clean every window from the inside of the house. He would clean them from the outside. So, I began. Mind you, by age 14 I had pretty much everything figured out, especially when it came to cleaning our house because I already had a solid 5-years of experience at it. I imagined sparkling windows and my dad giving me huge praise for doing such a stupendous job. Instead, I got streaks, white spots, and lots of fuzz from my rag. The windows were getting clean, but lacking the desired results. As I cleaned, window after window, my dad kept telling me to use newspaper instead of a rag. I rolled my eyes every time. "How in the heck would newspaper do the job better than a rag? He must be making it up. There goes dad again, trying to tell me how to do everything HIS way." I certainly did not need anyone telling me how to clean, of all things...
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Have you ever witnessed a firefly show? I grew up in the Midwest. It's an understatement to say I am fascinated by fireflies. It is much more accurate to claim that I am obsessed. Fireflies are cool for many reasons. I've studied their habits informally for many years; from behavior patterns to the energy-efficient light they give off. That light is now being studied formally at UC Berkeley to see if they can recreate it. It is the firefly's incandescence that mesmerizes us. That subtle, consistent blinking light is the way this little bug communicates with other fireflies. If you've had the pleasure of witnessing them, it is a beautiful, subtle, dance of survival. They NEED to attract other fireflies to mate and proliferate. This communication is delivered with precision and then a whole community of fireflies will blink their light in unison, as if proclaiming..."I've got your back, I'm here for you, and you are not alone!" It's quite inspiring. I realized when I was forming my business almost 11 years ago, that fireflies shaped my philosophy on communication and marketing, hence the namesake Firefly Strategies. 3 Things You Must Do When Managing a Crisis When we plan, whether it's for personal, small business, or non-profit development planning, the assumption is a successful outcome. We work hard to make sure the plan will lead us to profitability. But, many things cause delays or derail us from our end game. Most plans do not have a crisis component built into it, which is a mistake. ANYTHING could go wrong. I've seen some of the best-laid plans fail miserably because something went wrong. When a crisis occurs, you might be able to manage it internally without news leaking to the public. However, more often than not, the public finds out. So, plan for the fail, for a crisis, and for news going public. Here are 3 things you must do when managing this kind of crisis... Not long ago, I was struggling to keep my head above water, trying to manage WAY too much. Unfortunately, this predicament isn't something that happens to me only. I know MANY businesses, organizations, and individuals that are currently under incredible stress, and exhausted due to juggling too many hats. Sometimes it seems there just isn't a way out of the chaos. Hiring someone is not feasible. There's no time to recruit an intern. And volunteers, though great, just don't have the right skills. So what CAN you do when you are on the verge of "drowning?" Create systems! With the right systems in place, you can eliminate quite a bit of reinventing the wheel. Also, systems provide a framework for hiring someone or recruiting an intern or volunteer. There is a clear expectation of what needs to be accomplished, and less time spent orienting because documented systems can serve as training material. Here are the top 3 systems I recommend you put into place as soon as possible... The other day, I read a fantastic article on pricing your services and products. This article was written for women entrepreneurs, but I saw how it could be applied by any business or non-profit. It made me think about all the steps in the sales strategy. The first step, of course, is making sure you have a price figured out for your business, but how do you know if you are charging the right price. For non-profits, how much should you be asking for when requesting donations? A solid pricing structure for your sales strategy starts with knowing what you are trying to earn and/or how much you want to raise monthly or annually. Figuring out this simple goal can help you create a very targeted and strategic sales plan... I consistently get asked what is the 1 most important marketing activity to do. People ask "what is that 1 thing I need to do in order to get customers?"
My answer usually is that there isn't. There is no 1 thing you can do to gain customers or more sales. People are complex human beings. We like to receive and absorb information differently depending on the time of day, season and how we are feeling on any given day. Yesterday, I read a report by MarketingProfs, a leading marketing research, and management company. One of many organizations dedicated to studying and reporting on marketing and communications findings. The report they published showed what major marketing departments across the U.S. are utilizing and spending their money on to get their message across to their target markets... What exactly is a marketing strategy? It can be confusing, I know. I've heard it used to describe a whole host of things that aren't actually a marketing strategy. I will amend your confusion and help you gain an understanding of why a marketing strategy is THE single most important thing you can do to create a rock-solid marketing plan. I'll quickly make this clear to you and then you can dive into the rest of the article for further clarification. Without a strategy in place, your marketing plan doesn't really have legs to stand on. The marketing plan gets its strength from the strategy. You create marketing activities and objectives that are measurable based on the strategy you choose to pursue. Common descriptions of marketing strategies include some variation of the following: 1. Many people think the marketing plan is the marketing strategy. 2. Marketing strategy is commonly confused with marketing goals and objectives. 3. Marketing strategy is mistakenly seen as the action plan or the steps to get to where you want your organization or business to be. If you think any of these three describe a marketing strategy, then I'm sorry to say that you are mistaken. However, I will define, describe, and explain how you can create one for your organization... I've been working in and teaching marketing now for over 18 years. At this point, I have practiced and preached all forms of marketing methods, processes, strategies, and plans.
I am well versed in the textbook definitions of branding, marketing, promotions, and sales. I've been fortunate to discover some amazing insights as I've applied, taught, tweaked, and finally created my own method for marketing. Through it all, I discovered something so extraordinarily mind-blowing and humbling. I've learned what marketing really is and, unequivocally, what it is not. It comes down to a fundamental human skill, one we use every day, every waking moment of our lives. Let me start off by telling you that we all have the capacity to be marketing masters; that is why I want to share what I've discovered. I hope you take a minute to read it, take it in and if compelled, share it with others. I want this to spread far and wide. This is my most important marketing advice ever... I am a huge advocate for reviewing your marketing plan every few months. At the very least, every 6 months. The end of July is right around the corner, and this is a perfect time to closely inspect all of your marketing efforts to determine what is and is not working. Most of my clients get stumped over which information to analyze when making decisions on spending more money on something or stopping it altogether. I'll make it simple for you... I was asked an important question the other day. "What 1-2 things do you want nonprofits to know about design, marketing, and PR?" I immediately knew what those things are because it is something I witness often with the nonprofit community. I do a lot of work with nonprofits, and by the time they reach out to me for marketing help, sometimes it is too late. I hate when that happens because avoiding crisis, don't hate me for saying this, is simple. Avoiding crises requires planning for success. Keyword: "planning."
So here is my answer to the question... |
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