Marketing Eye

Saturday, 27 April 2013 18:36

Are all business women crazy?

"All women are crazy and all men are stupid," said a well-known author when I recently met them at Atlanta's St Regis Hotel for a cocktail.

How true. I know many women will throw their arms up in the air at this one and it is a gross generalisation - but if you think about it, it actually is closer to the truth than most women entrepreneurs would like to admit.

While I try in earnest to be consistent, without too many overwhelming changes to my personality, I think most people who know me well, would say I am a tad crazy - just like all my other female friends. I won't react quite like I use to when it comes to anything emotional or otherwise, because as you get older, the chances are you can hold it in a little more, but YES I do over-think things and I definitely react irrationally at times when I would prefer to not have reacted at all. 
Published in Management
Thursday, 25 April 2013 08:46

What gets you in the door of prospects?

Do you actually know what get's you in the door of a prospect? If you don't, then there is someone who you need to meet. Her name is Caryn Kopp. Seriously, if you run a small business, you need to remember this name because she is dynamite, built in a small package with an enormous explosion just ready to come out at any time. The explosion however, isn't the kind that you need to be afraid of. Instead, its a bundle of energy that opens doors; left, right and center.

I met Caryn Kopp in unusual circumstances - for me at least! In the restroom of the Nascar Center in Charlotte, North Carolina at around 10pm at night.

Apparently, as she later explained, she saw me earlier in the evening and thought I was beautifully dressed (thanks to the great designs of Sass and Bide in Australia). Her immediate reaction was to think that perhaps she didn't wear something that was dressy enough. She noticed the long, blonde hair on the black dress and the risque spikes that turned what is otherwise a pretty dress into one that is there to be noticed. She then looked at the name badge and although, like most of us, she had trouble focusing on the small print, she noticed the spelling of my name on the badge. It's unusual. 

"This is the girl I have to meet at the conference," she thought.

Prior to this, our friend Jim Weldon, had connected the two of us as he thought we would have some synergies with our businesses. The only problem was that Caryn was too busy to schedule a call in the week I was available and it was postponed to the following week.

You never know who you will meet in the bathroom

A lot of good things happen in the bathroom according to Caryn. After all, her business was born out of a gym bathroom some years previously. "Who knows what happens in the men's room!" she says with the same enthusiasm that she has for life, business and creating relationships.
Tuesday, 23 April 2013 10:18

Stay small or go broke

As a business owner and entrepreneur, there is nothing more apparent than when you sit in a room full of other like-minded individuals, that you are a little different. 

If one of my "normal" friends were sitting there, in that room, they would be terrified. They would have ran out as fast as they can, without looking back. Everyone was talking, almost all at once. They all had their ipads, iphones and pens and paper ready to hear - you are not going to be believe this - JACK DALY. Not that you wouldn't believe that someone would go and see Jack Daly, but because most of the people in the room had seen him speak on sales, not once, not twice, not even three times - but more than 5 or 6 times - BECAUSE he is that good and everyone in that room knows that to build their businesses, they need good management, strong marketing, and SALES. And, when it comes to SALES there is no-one more qualified or better at giving small businesses insight, than Jack Daly.
Green Technology
Brian Heather is a serial entrepreneur; young, dynamic, good looking and with a real social conscience. Not only is he in the business of sustainable environments, landscaping and water proofing, this 30-year old business man is changing the landscape of green buliding.

It may be a buzz word to many, but let me assure you, being green is more than meets the eye. Brian is a much sought after entrepreneur who has landed himself in the spotlight with his inaugural Ted Talk on June 23 on "The importance of reconnecting our cities to nature" as well as the natural charisma of an entrepreneur who is really going places.

His business, Solterra Systems, is a fully licensed electrical, landscaping and waterproofing company that focuses on integrating environmental technology into buildings.

This can range from green roofsproducing food, through to rain screen siding systems that protect the building from the elements with plants. 

But enough about that, how can we connect our cities to nature. Here's what he had to say:

What can communities be doing more of to connect their cities to nature?

The first step is attaching an ROI to the benefits associated with being in nature for all humans. For example, they estimate that the average American spends 26% of the day being distracted; think text messages, facebook, telephone or advertising. But right now technology is very much a part of what we do. The issue is that there is a loss of productivity in the workplace and people have, in general, very un-balanced live that is enhanced by the fact that technology plays such a huge role in what we do and how we live our lives.
Thursday, 18 April 2013 02:16

Are you being heard?

I experienced a frightening moment late last week when a star design intern in our Sydney office acknowledged the exchange we were sharing as the third time we'd ever spoken outside of work.

He's been with Marketing Eye for 4 months.

I work in Marketing Eye's Sydney office - every day, as does he. In fact, he and I sit no more than one meter apart but this close proximity evidently has no bearing on our track record of communication. Sure, we talk all the time about visual communication and client work and then there’s the phone that rings 50 times a day and it's a really busy time for Marketing Eye at the moment as we all step up to bring everything we can - but 3 actual conversations in 4 months?! That's appalling. In fact, I'd go one step further than that and say it's *beep* disgusting.
"He's so hot!" is all that I could say while watching Adam Scott in his 2013 US Masters Tournament play-off as he had a birdie putt on the second sudden-death play-off round to beat Argentina's Angel Cabrera.

Not the most intelligent of comments but I must say, even the guys watching Adam Scott were nodding in agreement. They too could see the beauty in this man - his looks and his golfing prowess!
Published in Marketing
Friday, 12 April 2013 09:37

Why Fridays are so crazy

There is no other day of the week that everyone looks forward to more. Friday is the one day that we all celebrate. It's a little crazy and I am mean CRAZY as everything has to be finalized today! Reports need to be done, contracts need to come through and your desk needs to be left tidy.
Published in Mellissah Smith
In 140 characters or less, tell me a story, your opinion or share something relevant or irrelevant. #please

Twitter is the fastest-growing social media platform in the world, engaging more than 200 million active users who create more than 400 million tweets per day.

So fast is this open, real-time platform growing that between quarter 2 and 4 last year, active users jumped 20 percent in the US alone.

Why Twitter is so good for small business?

Published in Marketing
Wednesday, 10 April 2013 15:35

It's time to settle down

I don't know about you, but I am exhausted. It's only April and already my migraine has set in and isn't about to subside - unless of course, I make some hard decisions.

Business expansion has been exhilarating, hard work, fulfilling, adventurous, rewarding and above all, something that I am proud to say that I have made the steps to do. There is still a long way to go and the road looks very long, windy with ups and downs going far into the distance. Hopefully, I will pick up some hitchhikers along the way to keep me company and that the car will be full of people all wanting to head in the same direction. No doubt, there will be people who will want to get out along the way and those who will feel car sick but then, miraculously, they will get over it and start enjoying the scenery and the ride.

Never for a moment have I been mistaken that this is not going to test me and every single person in my team. It singularly has been the bravest thing I have ever done and although I am a person who sticks to a plan, I never imagined for a minute that I would be living in Atlanta, in a hotel room, desperately wishing that I was home in my comfy bed with my Maltese Schnauzer, Pip, perched beside me. Nor would I imagine that I would leave her for long periods of time in the care of another.

Starbucks isn't my favourite coffee blend

It's funny, this morning I wished I had a jar of vegemite beside me and coffee that didn't come in a Starbucks cup. Vegemite reminds me of home and I have deliberately not brought it with me for the journey so that I open a new chapter without being so glued to the past that I can't get out of my normal routine. It's the lack of comforts that somehow gets me through.
As the print media continues to shrink and decline, brand journalism is the buzzword on our industry's lips as content marketing evolves into engaging newsroom-style messaging.

The term "brand journalism" has existed for close to a decade, with Larry Light using the term in 2004. At the time, he was chief marketing officer at McDonald's and claimed that mass marketing no longer worked, introducing brand journalism as a method of recording "what happens to a brand in the world".
Published in Marketing
Wednesday, 03 April 2013 01:22

The Hot Tip for Business Success

hot-tips-for-business-success

I love my job. It’s the difference between meeting oodles of fabulous individuals - and not. Day in and day out I meet great people, each with their own story.  Largely, they’re entrepreneurs.  Now, I love entrepreneurs. I love being around them, hearing what they have to say, conversing with them, learning from them. Their energy, their knowledge, their confidence, their stories, their drive. I haven't dropped a love drug prior to writing this despite it being the Tuesday after a 4-day long weekend - everything I'm saying is actually true.

I personally will never wear the shoes of an entrepreneur though because I can't have that cauldron-of-ideas bubbling without strategy and planning the detail. That's me. There are entrepreneurs and then there's me.
Tuesday, 02 April 2013 19:30

Are cool kids doomed for failure?

bullying-cartoon
I don't know about you, but when I went to school, the coolest kids in the class who were destined for greatness somehow fell short of their schoolyard celebrity status and became, well, um, not as successful as their parents and friends first thought.

I remember all those cool  kids who seemed to have it all at the ripe age of 14, while I sat in the library reading a book because, quite frankly, I wasn't as cool, nor did I win any particular popularity contest to speak of.

Instead, I wrote my weekly debates and hoped that the cool kids' "coolness" would somehow rub off on me and overnight, I could hang onto their coattails too. But that was not to be - instead, I spent every free hour at school secretly hoping that one day I would be cool too.
Published in Management