Results tagged “New Year's Revolutions”

 


 
POST
DATE

Thursday

24 Jan
2008
TITLE

New Year's Revolution #6
METADATA
by Brian Haven
@ 4:19 PM

TAGGED
, , ,

CATEGORIES
» Marketing
» Thoughts

» respond (0)
» connect (0)

BODY

Show some real corporate responsibility. I'm working on other research (at Forrester) in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility, Green Marketing, and Green Design. My research associate, Evadne Cokeh, will be working on this with me and she's already contributed some great ideas so I'm excited to get this project moving. With all the talk of environmental issues and fair labor treatment, companies really need to think of a way to be a good corporate citizen and not destroy their ecosystem (environmental and economical ecosystems) in their journey to profitability. We're looking forward to contributing to the breadth of work in this space and help companies find ways to be more responsible and still remain economically sustainable.


If you know of any good articles, company examples, or experts in the space whoa re worth talking to, please let us know.

 
—
POST
DATE

Wednesday

23 Jan
2008
TITLE

New Year's Revolution #5
METADATA
by Brian Haven
@ 7:44 PM

TAGGED
, , , ,

CATEGORIES
» Design Thinking
» Thoughts

» respond (0)
» connect (0)

BODY
Bring on a designer at a senior level to change your perspective. Design thinking is where the real differentiation is going to be in a few years. If you don’t start taking steps now, you’re going to have a tough time catching up. You may even get scooped by your competitor, or even worse, a company from a completely different industry could come in and redefine your business—on it’s terms, not yours. Think I’m crazy? How did a little struggling computer manufacturer in Cupertino, California end up owning the digital music experience? Think you’re safe? Check out some of these amazing solutions in the financial services industry that aren’t part of financial institutions (Mint, Virgin Money, etc.). 

I'm suggesting that in order to leverage design to the company's advantage, you need to have someone at the top that can make sure design thinking permeates the organization. It really boils down to a DNA issue. Apple can keep churning out amazing products because the CEO has design in his blood, and he's damn sure to hire people at the top that also possess this passion and perspective. Design is infused within the DNA of the company, so essentially every decision is made with a design perspective. 

Obviously, no company can make this happen over night--which is why you'll never have an iPod. But bringing in someone at a senior level to impart the process and priorities (namely human centered design through focused research) will help make the gears start turning.

 
—
POST
DATE

Tuesday

22 Jan
2008
TITLE

New Year's Revolution #4
METADATA
by Brian Haven
@ 8:08 PM

TAGGED
, ,

CATEGORIES
» Thoughts

» respond (0)
» connect (0)

BODY
Reconsider your business models. Can the RIAA sue any more people? We all need to stop and reconsider how we define and earn value (see Henry Chesbrough’s Open Business Models for an excellent treatise on the subject). Think about turning your business on it’s side, or even on it’s head. How can you morph your business from a commodity to a value added service. Consider outsourcing that core competency and sell the service around it. It's easy to get comfortable in our habits, and existing business models are habits. But we've entered a new era and the influence of individuals means that companies need to consider other options. This all leads to is new opportunities for innovation and and product development, I just hope firms seize it.

 
—
POST
DATE

Sunday

20 Jan
2008
TITLE

New Year's Revolution #3
METADATA
by Brian Haven
@ 10:04 PM

TAGGED
, ,

CATEGORIES
» Thoughts

» respond (0)
» connect (0)

BODY
Be a little more fearless and experiment more with social media. Transparency is coming, I’ve already talked about it before and the consequences could be dire. Companies need to open their minds to negative feedback—they need to embrace it, not run away and ignore it. People increasingly expect firms to behave like people in social media settings. That means if you make a mistake, own up to it, say how you’re going to fix it, and then move on. In the long run, you’ll garner a lot more credibility, and maybe you’ll learn something from listening to what people say—what a novel idea.

 
—
POST
DATE

Friday

18 Jan
2008
TITLE

New Year's Revolution #2
METADATA
by Brian Haven
@ 7:06 AM

TAGGED
, , , , ,

CATEGORIES
» Engagement
» Marketing
» Thoughts

» respond (0)
» connect (0)

BODY
Measure engagement—the real engagement. It’s funny, marketers dump 92% of their budget into traditional channels that are extremely difficult to measure, the other 8% go to interactive channels where they basically use the same metrics they’ve used for the past five decades. Then they complain that they can’t determine the value of social media. Yawn. My sympathy is wearing thin. 

Social media is trackable. Every time someone comments, rates a product, reviews a product, connects to someone in a social network, uploads a photo or video, tags something (the list goes on) they take an action that can be tracked in some form. Link these activities to transactions, visits, attitudes and sentiment (from surveys or maybe brand monitoring), and let’s get on to more important initiatives. And don't forget the real world. People visit stores, talk to each other face-to-face--we're physical and digital beasts. And we need to measure actions and behaviors across the mediums.

I've written a lot more about this here, here, and here. 

 
—
POST
DATE

Thursday

17 Jan
2008
TITLE

New Year's Revolution #1
METADATA
by Brian Haven
@ 2:09 PM

TAGGED
, , ,

CATEGORIES
» Design Thinking
» Thoughts

» respond (0)
» connect (0)

BODY
Get to know your customer’s better. As an analyst at Forrester, I’m always talking to companies about opportunities with social media, marketing, new product development, and design. I’m constantly appalled by how little companies know about their customers. So few have any actionable knowledge beyond the standard demographics. I hope firms will put a little more time, effort and money into the research process – and yes, that means qualitative research.

Having past experience with conducting ethnographic research, I'm keenly aware of the amazing insights that come from that brand of research. What I haven't had the opportunity to do is bring the insights from ethnography into a quantitative research effort. What a perfect fit: qualitative=discovery, quantitative=validation. It's like chocolate and peanut butter.

 
—