Business Markets

As our world moves quickly away from the Industrial Age into this Technology/Idea Age — we’re being called upon to build something very different than our parents or grandparents did.

Our generation is being asked to create ideas, technologies, new solutions to age old problems — all of which require us to be innovative.

What does that actually mean?  It means coming up with something new, being creative, coming at problems in a fresh way.  In business it means finding better ways to be valuable to your customers’ lives.

A lot of people believe that they’re not creative or they can’t do that sort of work.  I think that’s rubbish.  Everyone has it in them to find new answers.  Or even to ask new questions that lead to new answers.

How do you do it?  I might suggest you read a book I just finished called Innovate Like Edison by Sarah Miller Caldicott. (click

Read full post…

An iconic London landmark, the Battersea Power Station, is now up for sale after Real Estate Opportunities the Irish developers were forced by investors after admitting they couldn’t repay over £502 million of debt on the project. Ernst and Young were appointed last December to recoup monies to repay investors, which include the Irish super bank, NAMA as well as the now nationalised Lloyds Bank and Victor Hwang, a Malaysian property tycoon.

The agents Knight Frank Rutley, better known as agents of choice to landowners and celebrities for selling their multimillion pound country estates have been appointed to find a buyer for London’s prime redevelopment opportunity.

The Battersea Power Station covers over 400 acres of prime development land next to the Thames. The

Read full post…

Online and off, one the most important services I am often engaged to perform is the development of a positioning strategy for small to medium size businesses.

A positioning strategy is not simply a cleaver slogan but a powerful and dynamic stand that your brand takes in your category. Right now as you read this, I believe that you are sitting on something that would absolutely position you as the leader in your marketplace. All too often, we as small business people think that advertising an inspirational tagline, will draw in customers. But that really isn’t enough to make them engage you.

You have to been seen and believed to be a leader. Customers like to do business with leaders. Your position has to resonate with them. When was the last time you bought something based entirely on the slogan? We purchase all the time on our perception of their brand position all the time. T

Read full post…

John Richards’s Predictions for 2012

Since our previous predictions have proved fairly accurate, I am going to stick my neck out and give some fairly specific best-guesses for the next year. I must give the health warning that these are only extrapolations of present trends, and do not take account of currently unforeseeable events – which, of course, always occur.

First, the good news: the world as a whole should avoid a full recession in 2012 – emphasise the word should. All the bad news should not be allowed to obscure the fact that global business is growing, albeit slowly. Recovery from 2008 should not be expected to be spectacular, but it ought to continue, so long as everyone keeps their heads.

Alas, the bad news is that they are unlikely to keep them in Europe. The latest scheme to save the euro, FU (Fiscal Union), does not address its underlying problems. I pre

Read full post…

Dear readers,

I wanted to share these tips I saw in Tom “Big Al” Schreiter’s Fortune Now newsletter. With a few extra additions on effective business cards from me.

6 Tips for effective business cards design

1. Put your picture on your business card. People will remember you more easily. And you appear more approachable.

2. Use big print. As people get older , their eyes get weaker. You want them to be able to read your phone number and email address.

3. Use both sides of your business card. Don’t let that extra advertising space go to waste. Maybe you can make the back of your card into a coupon or introductory special.

4. VistaPrint.com always has introductory specials. Great place for business cards in small quantities.

5. Put your best foot forward. Prospects don’t care about your company name, they care about the benefit to them. Put your

Read full post…

In December you can count on snow, nostalgic looks back over the year and the inevitable predictions for the future.  One of the more interesting trends that seems to be garnering quite a bit of chatter is the notion of screen time and how touch screens are going mainstream.

Check out this video by Corning on how we’re going to interact differently with glass.  Some of this may seem pretty far out there…but it’s right around the corner.

Did you notice how many different ways there were to communicate in this “new” world?  And how many of those could be commandeered for marketing messages?  Pretty soon we’ll be using them to order at restaurants, customize merchandise and interact with billboards.  You’ll even be able to watch live sports while you grocery shop. (check it out here)

What does all of this mean to the average business owner?  It means that technology is continuing to change consumers’ expectations and experiences.  And yo

Read full post…

Technology giant Atos boss, Thierry Breton, plans ban internal emails by 2014. These surprisingly bold plans have met with applause and derision in equal measure by business and technology commentators. But Breton, former French minister of economy, finance and industry, claims banning internal email would be a massive step in the right technological direction and plans to change the way we communicate in business.

Breton, 56, says workers are distracted by masses of internal email which takes up valuable and costly data storage space for businesses already struggling to manage a mass of business critical data.

His plans to stop internal email are the result of research that showed employees were getting as many as 100 emails a day, only 15 of which were useful, or needed their immediate attention or action. They were also spending between 15 and 20 hours a week checking their own personal email at home.

Read full post…