Archives by Topic: Growing a business

In last Sunday's NY Times, Adam Bryant did an interesting interview of Barbara Krumsiek, the CEO of the Calvert Group, a socially responsible investment firm. She was asked about her experiences when she first became CEO and I thought her answers could be utilized by a business owner at any stage of a business' growth.

 

 

She said she was given advice by an executive coach to ask each executive to, "Tell me about your job, but now tell me what you think you do here that is not in that job description that you think is really critical." And then she also asked people to tell her "one thing that's going on at Calvert you think I don't know that you think I should know." Both questions would elicit a fascinating perspective on where the company is heading and where it needs to be heading so she could steer the ship accordingly.

She also said she doesn't like the metaphor of career ladder but prefers the analogy of a group of people on an obstacle course because that more accurately reflects her win-win value system in the workplace. My success doesn't impede your success. I like that. That is how we operate at Imagine Group, and I think in the workplace of many of our small business clients.

The other thing I found really fascinating was how she describes her role in the company. She says "I'm the kind of person who delegates everything. On a day-to-day basis, I feel I get paid to make a couple of judgments. I get paid to identify what is really working right now for Calvert. I want to stay on top of the two or three things that are, at this moment the most important things driving our good results right now. On the other hand, I get paid to identify the two or three things that are really broken and stay on top of those. So if you're on either end of that spectrum, you're going to see a lot of me."

In a small business, the delegation part is not usually the norm, but there is still great value in stepping back and trying to assess what your businesses core strengths are and what are the few broken things that need attention. Getting that perspective can help guide every day decisions and lead to increasing success.

Thanks for the advice, Barbara!

Use social media as one more way to connect with potential or current clients.  It's an addition to your web site, print ads, sponsorships, etc.

 

Go where your clients are.  Start with the social media site that your clients use the most.  Then you can add the second most popular site as you become more comfortable with the medium.

 

Voice:

• Social media is informal but must still reflect the brand.
• Develop a voice that is large part journalistic and small part marketing.
• If there is more than one person from your organization posting, use the poster's name with each post so your readers can connect with you.  Being anonymous dilutes your voice significantly.

Content:

• Fun interactivity: Create a way for clients to participate and to encourage interaction among fans (an event, contest, prize, question, etc.)
• Talk about your clients' business/organizations (after asking their permission)
• Share resources (interesting articles, how to's etc.) It shouldn't always be about you.
• Give credit to others when they're involved.  It's the polite thing to do.  Plus they might share your post.
• Photos and links:  Use photos and links as often as possible because they are quick and interesting.  If you can find an easy way to post photos on your website and drive people there rather than to Flickr or Twitpic, you create an opportunity to have someone see your website.

Cross pollinate frequently:

• Link to social media site from website, email signature, email newsletter and blog
• Use Social media posts to direct people to website and blog when relevant
• Encourage fans to share the info with others by posting useful or widely interesting posts
• Post on clients' social media pages

Imagine Group Great Giveaway Game:

• Goals of the Game: help non-profits, Give back to the community. Publicize Imagine Group and the 3 divisions.
• Mostly electronically promoted (with some after the fact PR)
• Publicized via our eNewsletter (3600 people), Facebook fan page and our individual FB accounts, Twitter
• Results: 112 nominations for 49 different organizations (61 from Facebook, 46 from our website's blog, 3 from Twitter, 2 via e-mail.)

Remember, people are reading even if they never post.  Seeing posts from you and others is why they read.

                      

The decision to create a Group with 3 divisions has evolved over the course of many months. At its core, this decision was motivated by an attempt to communicate more clearly to our clients, who we are and what we can offer to them. That is a worthwhile goal. However, I had forgotten how big of an endeavor it is to change names.

I suppose it's like the way I experienced childbirth. It came from a worthy impulse, required a gargantuan effort, and then, not too long afterwards, the memory of the effort faded and I was willing to undertake a similar path again for the same worthy reason!

It was only 3 short years ago that we undertook a radical rebranding and re-naming for our business. We went from being Signs of the Times to the bigger, broader and more visible Imagine Graphics.

I should've remembered clearly how much work it is to change names. Yet even the second time around, I have been caught by surprise by the sheer number of places we must carry out the change of naming. Interior and exterior signage, websites, business cards, print ads, postcards, email newsletter header, KLCC underwriting message, logo shirts, brochures, and even things such as email signatures and voice mail greetings.

Re-naming may well be a fabulous strategy for advancing your business. But be fore-warned, it causes a snowballing domino effect of work to update all your communication and positioning pieces. It’s sure to require more time and resources than expected.