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HOW LOVE DRIVES BRAND SUCCESS |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 03 March 2011 14:54 |
Since the recent death of Steve Jobs, many of us have been re-living all of his downfalls and successes through the spectacular self titled biography by Walter Isaacson, or media outlets like CNN. The lesson (in short) are many. After reading the book you will conclude that Steve Jobs was often a devisive, and difficult to work with. However Both Steves Genius and the abilities of Todd Howard Game Director at Bethesda Studios share in common that are quite reflexive on their individual achievements and individual brands. Read more
Since the recent death of Steve Jobs, many of us have been re-living all of his downfalls and successes through the spectacular self titled biography by Walter Isaacson, or media outlets like CNN. The lesson (in short) are many. After reading the book you will conclude that Steve Jobs was often a devicive, and difficult to work with. However Both Steve's genius and the abilities of Todd Howard Game Director at Bethesda Studios share in common that are quite reflexive on their individual achievements and brands.
The main concept is do what you love. This mantra has been said by just about every entraprenuer to their prodajes, but rarely can you see how to do this rather then just hear it. In the case of Todd Howard:
I think its fair to assume that while his concept game (Arena) was a great test run at a game that he him self would like to play. It would be his second game Daggerfall which is the intro into what will grow Bethesda Studios to what it is today. (a highly captivating success story that can be considered "cult Classic" for gamers). While most of the readers will not know any of the games mentioned above or below, that is not the point. The point rather is how much the fans love and wait for their products. People buy their games because they know Bethesda will not make a game that they would not want to sit and play for hours. Which is exactly what Bethesda fans do. The model of bethesda games tends to be open world life like interactions. You must eat (to stay alive) you must sleep / rest to keep going. these are things that allow you to immerse yourself as you would in a fantasy / reality atmosphere. This gives people the possibility to do things they would not in the real world and experience new. With the fifth installment of the mega epic Elder Scrolls Skyrim due to be released on 11.11.11 you can be sure that sales will be through the roof, while pirating will be lower then most other games. True gamers respect the studios that develop with "love". How do we know that Todd Howard develops game with love? Just listen to him speak about the new game
It is no surprise that the creation of such passionate creativity is an extreme success. More over then the financial success of both Bethesda and Todd Howard, one thing they both share is undescribable anticipation towards all of the wrok they produce.
In the case of Steve Jobs, he applied the same passion to computers (first) and then mobile electronics (later). He envisioned a phone that he would like to use. It has features that people identify with, but not only did they like the concept of what they did, they were dressed for success and were easily accesible. Steve envisioned products for everyone. Steve Jobs also put a lot of love into his products and into his life. He fought many personal battles with coworkers, friends, partners to get his way, and it was apparent that his understanding of the apple cult was even more important then his ideas.
The moral of the story is that we as employees and entraprenuers should strive to employ this love throughout our own brands. How can we instill tradition which drives this kind of loyalty?
In the case of Bethesda Studios, They pla the game as competitors, for both pride and perks. In these circles the pride of winning these high stakes battles can heavily outweigh the perks. These developers, animation artists and sound designer spend a steggering amount of hours (just like Steve and Waz did 30 years ago) to delievr a work of love for their fans. At the end of the day what makes a strong brand name can be judged by how big of a fan are you of your product?
To illustrate the point i will let the creator of iLove make it for himself. Beware this kind of love and passion money cannot buy:
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 22 February 2012 17:37 |
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THE ENTREPRENEUR CHECKLIST PART 1 |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 03 March 2011 14:54 |
Like many you woke up one day realizing that your career has hit a ceiling, or the daily hustle of corporate America has worn you down like an old pair of shoes. Many of us find reasons to start our own business, and the reasons really do vary from person to person. However now comes the hard work; Every body has a different list of priorities when they enter this segment of time. How you react here will ultimately determine how the venture will go! Read more
Like many you woke up one day realizing that your career has hit a ceiling, or the daily hustle of corporate America has worn you down like an old pair of shoes. Many of us find reasons to start our own business, and the reasons really do vary from person to person. However now comes the hard work; Every body has a different list of priorities when they enter this segment of time. How you react here will ultimately determine how the venture will go!
Baby Steps:
Many in these critical times tend to do the easiest, most fun things to distance them selves from the difficult questions they need to ask. Some of these include taking an obscene amount of time to draw up business cards, or buying several domain names just in case. These vanity steps are less productive, and a waste of time. In the early part of the development process your time is best spent by creating a business plan for yourself and then the idea (company). Venture capitalist who are experts at weening out the bad idea’s from the good, do so by understanding the strength and weaknesses of both the individual pitching as the idea itself. Knowing if you are built for the challenges ahead for you and the business is critical.
Once you have examined these crucial steps about yourself, you are ready to get to work.
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Time – The most important analysis you can do is to calculate your investment of time. You will ultimately never get this precisely, but you can be close. Most of the modern entrepreneurs moonlight before the truly leave to go on our own. It is the only way to guarantee some stability in a highly volatile time. This is never recommended, but its a “dog eat dog” life out there and guess what your boss isn't exactly giving you a raise every year. From my experience I did this for the first 6 months of my company, in order to build up something substantial. You must understand how much time you will need to develop the idea, build prototype (if product), and produce necessary marketing materials to begin the pitch.
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Money – Understanding the financial investment is self explanatory (really), but often new entrepreneurs tend to under estimate the investment that is truly required. Do the math wrong and you can really minimize the chances of your business succeeding.
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Passion – I know this is cheesy, but as the old age saying goes “do what your passionate about, and you will never work a day in your life”. As an entrepreneur twice over, I can tell you this is true without exception.
You have the time, capital (or idea of how to get it), and you are passionate about your idea. You have passed your own pop quiz, great!
The Crawl:
Usually the things that are the biggest drag are the most important, do them first! I must admit that when I started my agency i did not come up with a business plan, I also must admit that since i have gone back and written one my business has shown measurable growth. Do this first.
The Business Plan – when it comes to the business plan most tend to make “the perfect be the enemy of the good”. Don't fall in this hole. Make sure you cover the 4 basic things
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Executive Summary – although these may seem like just words about your idea, it is important to be able to be succinct about the general concept of your product or service. Think of this as your “elevator pitch”, it will one day bring you great benefit.
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Features & Benefits – I have found nothing in your business plan is as critical as outlining every detail that your consumer will make you unique and profitable. This is where you make your money, you better understand it, and can describe them all in great detail.
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Competitive Analysis – my suggestion is to always have others help you here. We are (as humans) incapable of judging our on ideas with zero bias. Trying is admirable, and always educational, but if this is our first business try to get as many strangers to opine. If your feelings are easily hurt, I would reconsider become an entrepreneur in the first place.
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Financial Analysis – This step is also important, but less so. The reason being is that you can pay people to analyze the market for you for a fairly cheap cost if math and research is not your strong point. Although i will say that the understanding of the companies financial health and status will catch up with you one day, better it be the first day rather then the last.
Marketing Materials – now you have set a path to certain goals and expectations to achieve. Marketing is the engine that takes you there. Here is what you will need.
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Logo – this one is actually important, don’t go crazy but do not forget this is literally the face of your idea, make it interesting and (most of all) clean.
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Business Cards – don’t try to “over design” these. At the end of the day all you need to do is relay your contact info. remember that new cards are cheap, so don’t agonize over this. get a couple of comps from a freelance designer, and settle on the one you like best. it helps to get others opinion on this as well. Ask 20 friends, and you might validate your already preexisting feelings.
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Fact Sheet or 1 Pager – This will be something that you will send to people to present your idea. Use the same designer (if possible) that made your log and cards and have them put together a clean way to describe your concept
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Brochure – a visually appealing tri-fold will do the trick. In the brochure you can outline your product or service and list your rates and contact info. If you cant make them look nice, don’t waste the money on printing them (probably waste of money).
If you like this please check back soon for part II.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 22 February 2012 17:31 |
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THE ENTREPRENEUR CHECKLIST PART 2 |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 03 March 2011 14:54 |
In the first part of this article I spoke about the beginning stages of what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. In this second part I begin to discuss the relevance of investment procurement, operational management, and advertising.
So you have started your business, came up with a plan for your product or service, and you are passionate you have a winner. You have gotten you business cards and some basic marketing materials (as covered by part 1 of this article) and you are ready to proceed. Are you ready to walk the walk? Read more
In the first part of this article I spoke about the beginning stages of what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. In this second part I begin to discuss the relevance of investment procurement, operational management, and advertising.
So you have started your business, came up with a plan for your product or service, and you are passionate you have a winner. You have gotten you business cards and some basic marketing materials (as covered by part 1 of this article) and you are ready to proceed. Are you ready to walk the walk?
It should be noted that depending if you are selling a service or product often determines the direction that follows. For example if you are an owner of a service you may not need much capital (if any) to proceed. Now it’s time for your sales process to begin, while if you started a product you need investment for a complete prototype. Regardless, today is the day you become a sales person. Remember that even though the venue is different, the tasks remains the same weather its a pitch to a prospective client (buyer) or a venture capital company. You must be eloquent, knowledgeable, and confident about your venture.
Let’s for the time being consider that you will need capital. There are many ways to get it. Be careful here as this is a tricky business, and you can give away a large chunk of your business for little money. Another possibility is at least 1 person on the board of your company. Here is what you need to know, they aren't just going to give you money and cross their fingers. VC denies 98% of applicants, their job generally is to find the sure thing. They try to find business that would yield a 20x-30x return. You are faced with 3 ways of getting funding, VC, angel investors, or public (IPO). For most businesses the public option is not even doable in the first 5 years.
The Walk:
1) Budgeting – Now that your business has picked up pace and the ups and downs are no longer as drastic, you can begin a balanced walk. As mentioned earlier your first task is operational funding. This can come as a big headache to most unless your field of expertise is private equity. To better understand the monies needed you will need a comprehensive budget. Aside from operational expenses such as employees, and marketing budget, you must decide your pay. This can be quite difficult. Most new business owners tend to want to pay them selves exorbitant amount. They feel like they have spent a better part of the year struggling to build the business and want to see a return on their efforts. Keep in mind that investors are in essence lending you money, and the more you ask for the more you will have to give up. The cost of the money borrowed is immense, so ask for only what is needed for you to become profitable. Take a salary of 50K the first year, if you are single, 80K if you have kids. Its not a lot but you will be rewarded 10x when revenue comes in and you can begin repaying human capital based on revenue. Doing this right will exponentially increase your businesses longevity. Also it is the responsible thing to do.
2) Human resources – Now you know your employment needs and its time to hire folks. For most this may be your first time, and it can be overwhelming to find great workers for cheap. This is an art (boot-starpping) that you will perfect as you go along, but don’t despair, and certainly don’t try to do things you have no idea about. Businesses with experienced employees that care are always first to succeed. Knowing peoples worth is critical. The best way to proceed is by knowing what the people do and account for their talents is key. For example look at Google. They started with 5 employees. They all make millions now, but they didn't always. At one point the principles had told their key employees the situation and made them realize that this is a human capital situation. What this means is that they will be paid by the companies growth. Explaining this is vital as your employees will work better if they feel comfortable with their pay structure. Set a vision that the whole team can get behind, and explain that the growth of the company and in turn them selves is derived by the work the entire group produces. Also its important to understand the market you are in. For example in a slow economy like now labor is cheaper, just don’t go too low or you can trigger resentment in the group which will affect your business, now or later.
3) Marketing – so now your budget is almost complete except for marketing. This is not a time for being frugal. Marketing will ultimately define your share of the market. Do not book a super bowl ad (too pricey). Stick to proven methods and ones you can get concrete KPI’s ( key performance indicators) on and really measure campaign success. Stay away from big agencies, they will charge a huge retainer and do the same work smaller agencies can do. In fact pick an agency that will not charge a retainer if you can. Good agencies will help with demographics as well. Although you should know your key demographic at this point.
Knowing your exact investment required will lend to a higher chance of securing private equity.
The Run (around):
This is the time of “no”, you will go from investor to investor pitching an getting a lot of no’s. The rule of thumb is you will get 20 no’s before you get a “yes”. Do not stress this terrible lack of interest. The fact is no matter how good the idea, new business owners need those rejection to better their pitch and the general idea. Every time you pitch someone you become a better presenter (especially if you analyze each pitch with out being defensive). This is no time for an ego, this is the time you will learn the most about your skills and your idea.
I personally suggest to try Angel investors first before VC, they will provide a lot less money but will not always ask to have the majority control the company. They make high risk investments and they usually do this for different reasons then venture capitalist. See last note below for comparison of different kind of investors and their goals, and reasons for investment in the first place.
The Sprint:
This is now your growth phase. It is not a simple phase, but the thing to keep in mind is that your success will be measured by your groups productivity, and your relentless “go-getter” attitude, the economy and many other fundamental business principles that often are out of your control. Understand what is under your powers of influence and make those processes better every day, and you will do well. Do not give up on your self or the business and the learning process. Much of the future of the company depends on how you run the company. Be nimble, flexible and strong and your rewards can be endless.
The result of following these steps will allow you to never have to work a day in your life.
Please stay tuned for the next article on comprehensive analysis of the different investment strategies companies use.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 22 February 2012 17:33 |
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A SOCIAL NETWORK THAT BALLOONED |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 03 March 2011 14:54 |
I will admit when social networking first came out i thought it as a tool for teenage girls. It had become evident that this phenomenon wasn't going away. I admit looking at the time of when My Space first became a main stream tool for people to promote them selves (much like companies have been for years), I was not keen enough to see the explosive possibilities. Read more
A social network that ballooned
I will admit when social networking first came out i thought it as a tool for teenage girls. It had become evident that this phenomenon wasn't going away. I admit looking at the time of when My Space first became a main stream tool for people to promote them selves (much like companies have been for years), I was not keen enough to see the explosive possibilities.
Today however we live in a different world. The social networking world today has adapted to do things. I recently heard about a challenge represented by 40 school throughout the country. Upon reading this story i was astounded. So I will post this for you to read.
The moral of the story is that 10 (red) weather balloons were raised at undisclosed locations with no indication, or hints for the challengers to follow. MIT had the idea of using an incentive based system to disperse the winnings among collaborators via social networks. The balloons had all been found with in 9 hours. To some this might be a useless factoid, but to those who work with in the perception changing business (like marketing, politicians, lobbyist, the list goes on), that is not a quizzical scrap, it is a game changer.
What is so organic about MIT’s model of course is that even though people knew they would receive less money if they got other people involved, they still did it. This behavior is uncommon. When incentives are given out people tend to keep the information to them selves unless absolutely necessary. This experiment forced people to fundamentally change their ideology and human nature to succeed.
How this pertains to companies and institutions:
People will always benefit most in a social network. With out the peoples inherent cause to participate in the network, there is no network. Being in a conversation you know nothing about is just as embarrassing on the web. I often see companies spending valuable resources on social media with out a set goal. The overall goal is to “enhance the brand”. I hear this all the time. Companies spend between $50,000.00 – $115,000.00 a year to retain digital agencies for just this service alone. I will admit for that kind of money you can attract a lot of “Fans” to your Facebook account, and even more “Followers” to your Twitter account, but most companies don’t even bother to ask why.
Perhaps we misunderstood the true nature of social media. Companies should embrace this “call to action” methodology when it comes to social media. We know from terrorism to global warming that we (humans) often come together only when we have no option not to.
To give credit where credit is due some companies have tried this method before for example Century 21 Real Estate ran a campaign of uploading your video of your home to YouTube to receive incentive. Read the full story here. I have observed that the people who are really using this technology the most efficient way are club promoters. Some of them can now deliver thousands of people almost over night to any given destination. I am not suggesting that we begin using social networking just like promoters do, but also not aimlessly as well. Its time companies started to engage their social networks as “relational networks”. The gap between the two can be seen as small and insignificant, however i argue it is what makes the difference between your next event being a success versus a failure.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 22 February 2012 17:39 |
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