Recently my colleague wrote an intriguing post about the (relatively) new LinkedIn feature they call Endorsements.  This feature is different to the valuable feature they have had for a long time, called Recommendations. The Recommendation feature requires that someone else provides a testimonial for you that you can approve and allow it to be posted onto your profile. The Endorsement feature [...]

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The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a controller as “a person in charge of expenditure esp. a steward or comptroller.”  According to Wikipedia “a comptroller is a management level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization.” In Canada we often use the title Controller in a broader sense but I find that many businesses focus [...]

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Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn - the names go on and on, and the task to get connected socially gets tougher and tougher.  No, it's really not a problem gaining more friends on Facebook, or a hundred extra Twitter followers, but is that really social networking? Making a momentary connection with someone that has 3,000 "followers" or "friends" does nothing for either party unless the [...]

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Many leaders in today’s small and mid-size companies struggle with marketing. Change is so revolutionary that as soon as they learn something new it becomes out of date.  So how do they manage their marketing function if they haven’t formalized it in some way?  Do they have a plan and do they have resources to manage the day to day activities that make marketing so challenging to deal with? [...]

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When social media became the new rage of marketing a few years back so many people saw it as the new holy grail.  In reality, this happens every few years as the new and the exciting takes over the imagination of the media who drive it incessantly until something newer and more exciting arrives and we follow that holy grail till it becomes passe. And so, each new innovation does not disappear, it[...]

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Have you ever taken five minutes to write down how many different ways there are to market a company?  A product?  A service?  Let me get you started: Advertising Social media Newsletters Blogs Business Cards SEO Media relations Writing articles Personal networking Testimonials Get the idea? Here's my challenge: take 5 minutes right now and see if you can beat my list - which is 150 strong [...]

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Social networks present enormous branding opportunities, but also critical reputational risks to businesses, according to an August 2012 study by Altimeter Group. When asked to estimate the level of risk that social networks present for businesses, 35% of the respondents – for whom social media risk management is their primary or a significant part of their responsibility – identified [...]

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Graham Bowman is CEO of a manufacturing and distribution company.  He has grown the company from its birth and is very hands on as its chief executive.  But Graham is starting to experience growth pains as the company evolves into a corporate entity where management and delegation are required, rather than hands on execution.  Graham himself is struggling with the transition, as are his [...]

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In an article on About.com, F. John Reh defines Key Performance Indicators (KPI) as “financial and non-financial metrics used to help an organization define and measure progress toward organizational goals. KPIs can … assess the present state of the business and assist in prescribing a course of action.” Informationbuilders.com describes KPIs as “high-level snapshots of a business or [...]

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We are slowly but surely evolving into an instant gratification society.  A society that looks for the quick answer and buys its way into satisfaction - or so we think.  If that satisfaction was so satisfying, why are we continually looking to satisfy ourselves even more with the next great widget or experience? This whole drive for instant gratification leads me to believe that people are on [...]

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