August 9th, 2010
All team members, executives and employees alike, must have a basis of understanding for what leadership is and does. The definitions of leadership and leaders address their sources of strength in deep-rooted values and professional
competence. Culture and company values influence the leader’s character and professional development, instilling a desire to acquire the essential knowledge to lead. Leaders apply this knowledge within a spectrum of established competencies to achieve
successful mission accomplishment. The roles and functions of business leaders apply to
the three interconnected levels of leadership: direct, organizational, and strategic. Within these levels of leadership, cohesive teams can achieve collective excellence when
leadership levels interact effectively.
Leadership takes on many forms, characteristics and personalities, but many factors remain constant among great leaders…can you name what factors those are?
Tags: leaders, Leadership
Posted in Leadership | 2 Comments »
July 9th, 2010
LeBron James…Sorry, King James has been a marketing case study over the past week. LeBron made a media spectacle out of his decision to go to New York, Cleveland, Chicago or Miami to play Basketball. In just 5 days from opening his first official Twitter page @kingjames he has accumulated 370,359 followers. All just waiting to hear the news last night that he was going to play for the Miami Heat.
LeBron has not won any championships, let alone 5 NBA world championships like Kobe Bryant, yet he garners more attention and hype from all media. Is it because of his sponsor Nike? Why is LeBron “so good” and valuable if he has not won a championship?
The marketing and brand equity value of his name alone has become enough to hold him on a team just to push merchandising and the chance that he wins a championship would just be the icing on the cake.
Regardless, it has been interesting to watch the type of marketing used to gather a crowd and hold them until LeBron made his decision. It built suspense and an eager crowd. Even those who do not like basketball found themselves getting caught in the media appeal.
What do you think made the way this was promoted and handled so successful?
Tags: @kingjames, basketball, Chicago, Cleveland, king james, kobe bryant, LeBron James, lebrons decision, Miami, miami heat, nba, New York, Nike, twitter, twitter.com/kingjames, world championship
Posted in General Posts | 1 Comment »
June 9th, 2010
One of the biggest assets any business has is the history of your business. History creates a foundation for being able to support an organization whether it be through purchasing, partnership, support, or loyalty. Many organizations train new employees using the history of the firm during their orientation process. This provides a foundation and understanding of where the company came from and what they are fighting/working for. The United States Marine Corps uses its great history to teach it’s recruits during basic training. Do you think Marines are proud to be Marines and loyal to their “company”?
We are taught our country’s great history in school growing up and most of us develop a loyalty and allegiance to the United States of America. Why? Why does that happen? It happens because we connect to the success stories and people that have made our country great and we develop a loyalty and passion for defending and part of our great nation. So let’s take that same idea and principle into our companies and get more energy from the employee’s and more brand loyalty from our customers. The YMCA has one of the most impressive history’s of any organizations or company we have ever herd of…
The YMCA is a non-profit with a vast history. How many organizations do you know that invented basketball and volleyball. Pioneered Camping, Public Libraries, Night Schools, and Teaching English as a Second Language? YMCA introduced the worlds first indoor swimming pool and group swim lessons.
The YMCA’s have provided the proper environment for ideas and organizations to be born: The Boys Scouts of America, Camp Fire Girls, the Negro National Baseball League, Toastmasters, Hallmark Cards, Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, and Father’s Day.
The YMCA has help build our country and have been visited by many U.S. Presidents. The majority of employees, members and community members probably do not know about all the great things the YMCA has done. Do you think it is worth it to tell people about the YMCA History? Marketing the History?…
….We do. History builds foundation and loyalty. The organization is a non-profit and many people may need to be reminded about what the YMCA stands for. The YMCA is more than just a fitness center, BUT do your members and communities know that?
Tags: basic training, basketball, boy scouts, camping, company history, customers, employees, father's day, hallmark cards, loyalty, night school, public libraries, swim lessons, united states marine corps, united states of america, volleyball, YMCA
Posted in Leadership, Strategic Marketing, YMCA | 6 Comments »
April 9th, 2010
One thing we learned about strategic marketing was the understanding of the needs of people. If you can understand 
peoples desired “end state” or “end goal” you can customize your marketing message towards that. If the definition of marketing is to bridge the values of your product, service or company to the values of your customers, then Terminal Values can give an insight on what “end goals” should be looked at.
Terminal Values are considered important principles guiding peoples behavior throughout their life. These Terminal Values also guide consumer buying behavior. Next time you watch TV, listen to the radio or read a magazine, look at the advertisements and determine what Terminal (s) Value the ad is catering to. See if any of these values are gender specific? And then consider demographics and how each may be effected by marketing using these values as the “theme”.
- A Comfortable Life (prosperous)
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- An Exciting Life (stimulating)
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- A Sense of Accomplishment
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- A World of Beauty (beauty of nature)
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- Mature Love (sexual & spiritual intimacy)
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Tags: Advertising, family, freedom, friendship, happiness, magazines, national security, radio, respect, Strategic Marketing, Strategic Marketing, terminal values, tv, values
Posted in Strategic Marketing | 2 Comments »
March 9th, 2010
One of the big assumptions within any organization is that…”we know the answers”. Most of the time you do not hold the correct answer, your customers do!
If your customers are the ones who supply you with money to sustain business life and you are feeding them products of services, why would you ever make assumptions about what type of people they are, what they really want and how to effectively communicate with them? You shouldn’t!
The solution to this problem is simple, ask your customers all the questions you want answered. You can do this in many ways: focus groups, surveys, one-on-one discussions, electronic surveys (e.g. survey monkey), etc. These forms of communication are critical means of feedback for you to get the information needed to make strategy decisions.
There is an art or science to conducting surveys and focus groups the the way and manner in which it is done, but if you need help feel free to contact us at info@theoctopussolution.com. Let’s find out together what your customers really want from you!
Tags: customers, focus groups, products and services, science, Strategic Marketing, survey monkey, surveys
Posted in Strategic Marketing | No Comments »
February 9th, 2010
Dear Loving Customers,
We are excited for our upcoming week together. In case you were not aware this Sunday is Valentines Day and we would like you to be ours. We love our customers in a legal, ethical, moral, and fun way and are excited to share more time with you. We miss you already!
This week we are getting ready to shower you with praise, attention, support, sincere caring, and possibly chocolate…you will just have to be surprised. Our customers are truly the heart of our business and Cupid just keeps hitting us with arrows. Love that Cupid.
If you are feeling like a company that has no one who cares? Well we care damn it and no one should be alone on Valentines Day. If you are feeling like sales are down and your employee’s are sad, or maybe your marketing looks like it did 20 years ago and you just need to feel that “kid-like” energy again…give us a call. If your finance guy just ran off with the HR director…give us a call. If you have a board of directors that will not listen to you and you just keep hitting your head against that wall…give us a call. If you want to increase your performance (you know what we mean)… just give us a call. If you want to successfully market your business like CVS during Valentines Day…give us a call.
Give us a call we would love to take care of you as one of our customers!
www.TheOctopusSolution.com
Tags: cupid, customers, cvs, finance, HR, love, valentines day
Posted in Strategic Marketing | No Comments »
All team members, executives and employees alike, must have a basis of understanding for what leadership is and does. The definitions of leadership and leaders address their sources of strength in deep-rooted values and professional
