Let's Talk Business

Having a strong circle of people around you is important.
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CAN WE HEAR YOU?

With all of this social media and new technology, not to mention traditional marketing- can your target really hear your fabulous voice in all of its glory? Yesterday, I watched Sunday Morning on CBS and they had a great piece on how blogging has taken us back to the way news was originally disseminated. Back in the day the people were the voice, not some big machine censoring/syndicating every word. Articles were written with an intentional blank page for reader's to comment and pass on to the next guy. This was the original user generated content.

It seems that blogging and social media has lead us back down the road to many voices sounding off about anything and everything. This is great news and at the same time somewhat concerning. What does it mean for you, as a marketer, when you need to reach your target's sweet little eyes and ears and they are full beyond belief?

This means you have to mind your p's and q's now more than ever. Take a look at your brand and what your really know about your market. Go back to the drawing board and do your demo and psycho graphic research to really understand your self aware and involved target. We are in a consumer centric society and have to serve our people in order to continue doing business with them. Delve in to who they are, what they like and how they are adapting to the tech crazed, ever evolving world. Things are moving really fast, you can not afford to guess about anything.

Next, take a look at your traditional marketing- direct mail, TV, radio, events, sponsorships/advertising, promotions and direct everything back to your Website to create the most visibility and drive up your search engine ranking. Here is the deal though, if you are going to do all of this communicating, make it relevant to your audience. Product/service pitches masked as blogs and newsletters are just not cool. Provide your audience with real life, user friendly information that actually applies. You will position your company as experts in the field and give your audience a reason to come back for more. Only then will they really hear you.

Levelsixpr.com for more information

Why care about HR?

 No reason, well except for the fact that your company can’t run without good employees. Well I guess it can but it would only be a matter of time before you ran yourself into the ground and your business would only get so big before it outgrew what you alone are capable of doing. If you want your business to grow having employees is inevitable and if you are faced with the inevitable then you need to care about HR (at least a little).

The first step in caring about HR is actually knowing what it is. Now you don’t need to know (or care) about the finer details just the more global aspect. The actual definition of Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training. This may seem like a lot but to me it is simply about people. Getting the right people, treating them right, and creating a strong team.

Any business owner/manager needs to care about these things to create a strong, loyal workforce that will help them to achieve the organizational goals. Just as you would (and should) hire an accountant (try Prostar Consulting) to make sure your books are in order, or a marketing professional to brand yourself the right way, or having a strong relationship with an attorney to make sure you are running your business the right way, you need to invest in the people side of your business – or HR. Granted part of that is about making sure you are compliant with the ever difficult to understand labor laws. But more importantly you need to create that right environment and culture that you want to stand for in your business. Then find those right people to carry out the vision, which can be the difficult part.

HR is largely about people and the fun thing about people is that they are often unpredictable. If you don’t find unpredictability fun then I can recommend a good doctor.

 Laina

Good Boss or Bad Boss, which one are you?
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We need to think of innovative ways to do almost all aspects of our business and that includes motivating our employees.
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Developing a Cash Flow Forecast

Cash Flow is an essential factor in the ongoing health of a business. Knowing how to maintain cash flow is essential to sustaining a successful business.  But what exactly is cash flow? The three key components are:

• Funds on hand at the beginning of any period

• Funds received and spent during an ensuing period

• Funds remaining at the end of that period

Keep in mind that cash is not profit.  Profit is the difference between the total amount of money your business earns and all of its costs, usually assessed over a year or other trading period.  Cash, on the other hand, is the amount of money you have on hand to pay debts. You can be showing a good profit and still not have enough cash to cover an immediate debt. Income and expenditure cash flows rarely coincide yet you must always be in a position to meet your scheduled payments. Cash flow management is basically about speeding up your inflows and slowing down your outflows.  To achieve this requires planning, also known as a Cash Flow Forecast.  The key elements of a Cash Flow Forecast are:

• Receipts

• Payments

• Excess of receipts over payments

• Opening bank balance

• Closing bank balance

A Cash Flow Forecast will assist you with working capital management to meet your cash needs as well as applying for new financing.  To learn more about creating a forecast for your business, register to attend our “Managing Your Cash Flow during a Challenging Economy” workshop series hosted by Simons Bitzer & Associates. Visit www.simonsbitzer.com or call 782.3070 for details.

NOW IS NOT THE TIME....

How many times have you heard about layoffs in the marketing department recently? Why are we always the first to go? I met a lovely woman in her early thirties who, along with her fellow departmental comrades, were let go. The marketing department disbanded because of the economy and new leadership in the company. The new boss man has different ideas about running the company.

WHAT?? It totally baffles me that company's are letting their marketing folk go at such a critical time.  It seems to me that it is more important than ever to market and do it well. How else will you stand out in the marketplace? We are doing business in a time where it is all about survival of the fittest. When company's cut their marketing almost or completely out, even for a short while, they are throwing in the towel to some degree. The death might be slow, but then again, might not.

Here's what I want to know- if you stop marketing, how are you going to communicate with your audience? How is anyone going to know you are alive if you are living under a rock? Reacting out of fear of the times is not playing the A game. Adapting to our changing market will place you above the competition and give you peace of mind. Most people operate from a fear based state of consciousness that clouds their decisions and outcomes. If you are making decisions out of fear, the outcome is not likely to be very good- that's a fact.

What if you decided to take charge of this fear and turn it into something positive, like reevaluating your marketing strategy and tactics, but not cutting it out of your business plan completely?

Are you ready to throw in the towel because our economy is a hot mess? Or are you ready to change your thinking and choose a positive resolution by continuing to evolve your business?

Take the challenge, decide to create your reality and not let outside circumstances dictate how you run your business. And P.S. this won't be an easy task either.

Call Levelsix Marketing & PR if you would like some help reevaluating your plan: 317-863-2550.

CHECK US OUT @ LEVELSIXPR.COM

Manners

Where are our manners?

Growing up in an environment where it was required to address people as yes ma’am and no sir and to always respect my elders, I have always modeled my business practices and personal behavior as an adult around this embedded behavior from my upbringing. With this conservative upbringing it has always surprised me how open and honest and sometimes inappropriate, people are when hiding behind the cloak of email or other forms of electronic communication. It seems to bring out a lot of passive/aggressiveness in people.

While I think it is great to be transparent about who you are and how you feel there are some things that really should not be broadcasted to everyone. Especially if your audience includes people you don’t know very well. There are things to be kept private (for personal reasons) and others that should be kept to those involved for professional reasons. I find it highly inappropriate to use twitter, Facebook, Linked in, MySpace…whatever is may be, to comment on negative experiences with clients and/or vendors. Those clients and/or vendors are probably on your twitter, Facebook, Linked in, MySpace pages and will not only find you offensive but you can ruin the professional reputation you have worked so hard to build with them in short order. Additionally the use of slander, profanity, or blasphemy is again highly offensive and inappropriate. So let’s remind ourselves that we owe it to our followers to always be courteous and respectful. Likewise if you have issues with someone address it with that person and don’t go gossiping about it via technology.

Dr. Laina Molaski

lmolaski@candsconsulting.biz