CES: Best Business Strategies to Get Tech Funding
Jan. 24, 2012
If you have a tech startup looking for funds, you already know the competition is intense. But there are strategies that will help you to get funded. Investors revealed their preferences for funding technology firms at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
On her blog, the chair of the CES venture capital panel, Joey Tamer, writes “each early stage fund planned to invest in a Series A for four or five new early stage companies during this year.”
When she’s not chairing venture panels, Ms. Tamer is an outstanding Los Angeles-based strategic consultant to technology and media (www.joeytamer.com).
“In the case of Jerusalem Venture Partners, Yoav Tzruya reported that this number represents no more than 1 percent of the 600 companies JVP reviews each year for its early stage fund,” says Ms. Tamer.
“Kevin Spain of Emergence Capital which has a focus on B2B applications, and Chris Petrovic of GameStop Digital which is a strategic investor/acquirer of game companies, as well as Habib Kairouz of Rho Capital agreed with the plan for four to five new deals this year,” she adds.
Improved environment
“We are in a boom period again, this time for the number of early stage companies in play in the market,” Ms. Tamer explains. “The continuing trend that allows for new technologies and applications to be built with many off-the-shelf tools, using world-wide technical expertise, for much less capital, has created many new companies competing for the funding resources available.
“The new trend of incubating companies in accelerators has added some seed capital to these concept-companies to get them through their initial product development,” she says. “But then these companies need to get some traction in the market, hopefully to significant revenue, before they can hope to move from seed capital to Series A.”
Optional strategies
Ms. Tamer indicates you have options to consider if you can’t get from seed to Series A or from Series A to Series B.
“Early stage companies not attracting that critical Series A or Series B funding should consider connecting strategically or through acquisition or merger with other similar-stage companies to create a stronger offering for funding,” she advises. “Aligning with other early companies that would enhance your market position or extend your product offerings or brand, you might attract that essential next stage of funding.”
She explains a developing trend.
“Kevin Spain added a new point, that he sees a strong emerging trend in B2B and enterprise applications using the new technologies that are mostly focused on the consumer market now,” she writes. “He advised companies to look for those B2B market opportunities for their current B2C products and applications. A doubling of your target markets, which rise and fall under different economic conditions, may present a strong offering to investors.”
She explains the motivation of two investors.
“Scott English from Hearst and Chris Petrovic of GameStop approach their investments as strategic additions to their portfolios, rather than as pure venture investments –even though each has a different priority for these investments,” she explains.
“The first point made was to conduct your due diligence about how strategic investors value their target companies,” Ms. Tamer says. “Hearst, for example, is a later stage investor focused on financial ROI to Hearst first, and strategic value to the portfolio second. GameStop, focused on early stage game companies, values its acquisition targets first as an operational addition to its portfolio plan (does the company add to GameStop’s infrastructure, product mix, learning about new markets, or strategy) before financial and ROI considerations.”
She explains some lessons:
- Do your homework about your company’s “fit” with what an investment group might be seeking.
- Talk with other companies in the investor’s portfolio.
- Narrow down your list and your efforts to those investors that prefer your company’s stage, market sector, and your possible enhancement of their portfolio’s current companies.
- Some strategic and corporate investors function very much like venture capitalists, and others have different priorities. So, after your due diligence, and as you enter discussions, read the deal’s restrictions and the detailed legal conditions before negotiating or accepting any investment.
Critical factors to help you win
“Norm Fogelsong of Institutional Venture Partners, a later-stage venture fund, insisted that your company’s vision must be big, very big, to attract the rounds of capital needed to become a major player,” she points out.
“The panelists agreed that they are very focused on execution, in particular execution on market penetration,” Ms. Tamer advises. “After you have been funded on your product’s unique value, it is time to turn your attention to your market, especially your customer acquisition and retention strategies, tactics and results.”
She provides another insight: “Yoav related that he looked for CEOs with deep market savvy, a founder who knows his or her product and its market realities, and has a strong go-to-market strategy.”
Ms. Tamer shares the insights of Sharon Wienbar of Scale Venture Partners, a later stage investor, who wants to minimize risk three ways:
- Proof of market responsiveness: Does your customer commit to your vision of your product’s value, price and use?
- A business model that prioritizes customer acquisition and retention: Do you have a plan that acquires each new customer quickly and for less and less cost of acquisition?
- Compelling metrics: are your projections for market penetration, growth and profitability backed up by proven metrics?
“So, amid the growing competition for capital we are seeing this year, particularly in the consumer market, investors’ focus seems to move quickly from unique technologies and applications to strong execution,” concludes Ms. Tamer. “Early stage companies need strategies to present compelling offerings to investors, and an increasing focus on market execution that leads to growing a big company and taking significant market share.”
Hope you enjoyed these insights. As usual, Ms. Tamer speaks and writes with authority.
(Note: I’m very familiar with Ms. Tamer’s expertise. She is a fellow member of Consultants West, www.consultantswest.com, a roundtable of veteran consultants in the Los Angeles area.)
From the Coach’s Corner, here are more of Ms. Tamer’s valuable insights:
How To Get More Opportunities As A Guest Speaker
How To Obtain The Most Profit From Speaking Opportunities
6 Values for Financial Protection
Options to Navigate This Marketplace Bedlam
What Should You Divulge When Asking for Investment Capital?
Eight Strategies to Consider Before Starting A Tech Business
What No One Tells You about Raising Investment Capital
“If you can dream it, you can do it.”
-Walt Disney
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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Understanding the Marriage of Technology and Human Behavior
Jan. 12, 2012
Whether you’re selling products, services or both – your marketing/sales future depends on whether you’re up-to-date on technology. That’s because it’s so intertwined with human behavior.
An interesting article in Ad Age is a timely reminder.
It’s entitled, “CMOs Explain Why They’re Flocking to Vegas for CES.” The article explains why thousands of advertising and marketing professionals consider the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas a must-attend event.
The obvious conclusion: CES is vital for their job security. On a macro level, marketers attend CES to stay abreast of technology and the resulting human behavior – how people connect with brands.
They understand the importance of profiting from emerging human behaviors.
Not to criticize, but that’s why it’s so puzzling that Microsoft ended its 15-year association with CES as the anchor sponsor. Yes, I understand the reasons given by Microsoft. But when you own a franchise, you don’t give it away. You’ll never recoup it. And CES is the go-to tech event at the start of every year. Like soft drinks and Coke, Microsoft needs to be synonymous with new technology.
Further, it’s a chance to meet face-to-face with thousands of influential people and to stay abreast of technology. And as each year passes with new evolving technology, CES becomes more important.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are marketing resource links to keep up with your competitors –
How Small Businesses Can Capitalize on Cyber Strategies for Profit
Why B2B Marketers Like Content Marketing – Study
Best Practices to Optimize Your Brand, Manage Your Web Reputation
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
-Thomas A. Edison
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Terry Corbell is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Internet Marketing Lessons Via Rick Santorum’s Campaign
Jan. 5, 2012
Unintentionally, Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign — with inadequate branding — is providing business with Internet marketing lessons.
Perhaps you’ve noticed the inflammatory results in searching the Web for him. When you search for “Santorum,” the deprecating site of “spreadingsantorum.com” is first on Google, Bing and Yahoo. For curious voters interested in the campaign, it’s an especially disappointing search.
The derogatory site was created in 2003 by a part owner of The Stranger publication in Seattle, who was annoyed by then-Sen. Santorum’s comment about a U.S. Supreme court ruling that was favored by the gay community.
Understandably, Mr. Santorum complained to Google about the rankings – after all there are precedents. Indeed, it can be argued that Google could do something about it.
You might recall Google penalized the derogatory monkey-face depictions of Michelle Obama. There are countless security examples from when Google and the other search engines have issued a warning about a Web site when it believes a site is a security risk to users.
Until and unless Google and the other search engines take corrective measures, the Santorum campaign must focus on what it can control.
However, the campaign fails to use best practices in Internet marketing.
Its salient shortcomings:
- Failure to use SEO techniques
- A call to action without giving the right incentives – branding and value propositions
- Poor organization – lack of preparedness
Failure to use SEO
As a result of his strong showing from largely grass roots efforts, Mr. Santorum’s campaign is attracting an unprecedented number of voters who are now curious about him. They can find the right site easier when they search using the key words, “Rick Santorum.” But if they search using “Santorum,” they get the derogatory site.
In effect, however, the campaign has allowed Mr. Santorum to become a victim of political sabotage sans common SEO procedures.
Yes, the Santorum campaign has options to effectively to eliminate the adverse impact of the sarcastic site. Curiously, “spreadingsantorum.com” only has a Google page rank of 5. That’s not insurmountable for the Santorum campaign, if it employs proper SEO techniques, and understands how to win on Google.
Hint: If you can win on Google, you will on the other search engines, too. So start with how Google details its new reasoning for best Web site rankings, and successfully understand the 23 key questions Google has about your Web site.
As for the Santorum campaign, it needs to develop and focus on one site – just one site dedicated to the candidate. But it mistakenly directs Internet users to a donation form – one of two duplicate content sites (supportricksantorum.com and ricksantorum.com).
Premature call to action
The Santorum donation site sets a poor example. It only asks for money. There are no stellar branding and value propositions. Visitors aren’t readily able to learn anything about him – neither his policy positions nor his background.
All of this means the right sites show up twice – but they’re below the fold on Google.
Moreover, duplicate content hurts the cause. Two different domain names containing similar content defeat the purpose. The two sites effectively insure his Web presence is diluted – the search engines don’t know which is paramount for users.
Poor organization – lack of preparedness
With such a confusing marketing approach, the campaign inadvertently sends two unintended signals.
Firstly, it shows poor organization and lack of preparedness — note the verbiage in this Santorum tweet:
“Your great support has caused some unexpected downtime on our website! You can still support us at our temp page: ricksantorum.com”
Because the campaign instituted some redirects – the tweet sent people to the donation site. That’s a violation of best practices in marketing – never assume the voter has enough incentives before you ask for a vote or beg for donations.
Secondly, such strategies — unbranded donation page and desperate-looking tweets — leave users with the impression that he’ll fail because he’s desperate for donations.
Further, as an example of over-reaching, the campaign constantly changes the tag line that appears on the search engines. The candidate needs to be consistently repetitive with his branding and Web presence. Aside from the duplication issue and failure to imbed the donation page in one site, he needs to attract thousands of new links from good Web sites.
Whether he realizes or not, failure to take such precautions adversely impacts his credibility as a viable candidate. After all, even if he could win his party’s nomination, he’d be facing a Democrat who long ago demonstrated extraordinary Internet expertise.
Good Internet marketing lessons for business from Mr. Santorum.
From the Coach’s Corner, here’s a checklist: 14 strategies to rock on Google.
Additionally, for more resources see this portal’s marketing and tech archives, which are packed with solutions.
“Don’t blame the marketing department. The buck stops with the chief executive.”
-John D. Rockefeller
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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Who Profits from Android’s Security Issues? Not Users.
Dec. 19, 2011
Countless headlines detail the cyber dangers of Android-based devices, which is why 22 applications were taken off the market by Google. The operating system’s issues stemmed from malware infections.
So who can benefit? Certainly it isn’t Android users.
“We continue to advise readers to be very cautious in downloading Android applications,” wrote Dr. Stan Stahl on his blog. “Applications should be downloaded only from ‘official’ stores and only after they have been ‘vetted’ as legit,” wrote the nationally known security expert.
Google removed the apps from its Android market after they fooled users into accepting hidden, fraudulent charges.
The biggest operating-system competitor to Google’s Android: Apple’s iOS.
Published reports indicate Microsoft is actively pursuing opportunities to capitalize on Android’s woes.
Research in Motion (RIM) has its woes with Blackberry profitability. New products are slow to market. As RIM’s phones age and need to be replaced by business users, Apple’s products might become even more attractive in the corporate world.
And if the vulnerabilities aren’t resolved, both Apple and Microsoft should be in a position to profit.
From the Coach’s Corner, security resource links:
New Cybercrime Serves as Warning to Take Defensive Precautions
Why Many Healthcare Workers Are Responsible for Alarming Trend: Medical ID Theft
Our Mobile-Banking Warnings about Security Prove Prophetic
“Distrust and caution are the parents of security.”
-Benjamin Franklin
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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
How Small Businesses Can Capitalize on Cyber Strategies for Profit
Yes, it’s become important for small businesses to capitalize on cyber strategies for profit.
Small and even regional retailers should be cognizant of three realities. Potential customers probably think that national chains have easier-to-shop Web sites with lower prices. This also means that until a national Internet sales tax is passed, many consumers will prefer to shop online.
So, with all retailers depending so heavily on Q4 sales to stay in the black and record numbers of shoppers continuing to buy online each Cyber Monday, cyber strategies are increasingly important.
Nonetheless, a cursory search on the Internet in every sector shows many small retailers and professional service firms, especially law firms, don’t have a strong Web presence.
Many suffer from the following:
- Many have only simple landing pages
- Most don’t have social media acumen
- Even those with Web sites are difficult to navigate
- Poor SEO – search engine optimization
By comparison, large companies have terrific e-commerce sites and display good judgment in social media.
It’s important to understand how marketing has developed in the digital age.
True, traditional media is important. But it’s vital to do something about online consumer trends. A McKinsey study indicates more than four out of five Americans use the Internet to search for information or to buy products.
The Internet has given them more control over their spending with reviews, enhanced abilities for comparison shopping and for moving from an advertiser’s monologue to a dialogue with prospective customers.
Small businesses must create a marketing strategy for a strong presence on Google, which has a 66 percent market share in the U.S. and 90 percent worldwide.
So understand Google’s reasoning for best Web site rankings. Here’s a checklist with 14 Strategies to Rock on Google.
However, in my experience, strategies for optimizing your Web site’s presence on Google also work on Bing and Yahoo.
Expertise in mobile marketing is becoming increasingly valuable for small businesses. Use of smartphones by shoppers is becoming widespread. So make sure your site is compatible for mobile marketing.
Facebook pros and cons
Not to mention the impact of social media playing a role. There are 11 ways to make money on Facebook. However, beware that Facebook can cannibalize and make losers out of small business Web sites.
Further, there are 8 tools to optimize sales with social media, but beware of a red flag.
So, small businesspeople should remember that the key to internet dominance is to think integration.
That often doesn’t include advertising with daily deal sites. They don’t work for substantial numbers of small businesses. Beware of daily deal sites and pricing principles – what’s sustainable and what isn’t.
Meanwhile, the evolving Internet also means it’s important to take safeguards to protect your brand’s image. Poor customer reviews and public relations can kill a company. So understand the best practices to optimize your brand and manage your Web reputation.
Success in sales depends on trust.
To build trust with Internet users, here are three key reminders:
1. Be transparent. List a description of your business including contact information, products, services, location and the names of company principals. That includes your telephone ID numbers for when you make outgoing calls, and disclosing your customer-service policies.
2. Privacy policies are necessary. If you sell online, take every security precaution, respect customer contact preferences, and don’t share customer information.
3. Develop an online media kit. An online media kit is helpful to dialogue with advertisers, clients, customers, journalists and prospects. To make it easy for Internet users to learn about your business, explain your company using the five Ws – who, what, where, when, why and how.
Depending on your sector, there are probably other principles to heed and utilize, but these are the basics for on how small businesses can capitalize on cyber strategies for profit.
From the Coach’s Corner, here’s another resource link:
Why B2B Marketers Like Content Marketing – Study
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”
-Peter F. Drucker
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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
New Cybercrime Serves as Warning to Take Defensive Precautions
Nov. 14, 2011
Cybercrime is only getting worse, as reported in two major stories in the past week.
In New York, six Estonians and one Russian were charged by authorities with cybercrimes on a massive scale. Victims include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, other government agencies, businesses and 500,000 people.
In the U.K., 13 people were sentenced to jail terms over their use of malware in banking fraud totaling 2.9 million British pounds, or $4.6 million. Hundreds of people were victimized.
These stories are another lesson to take cybercrime seriously.
For best practices in thwarting cybercriminals, I always turn to nationally recognized security expert, Dr. Stan Stahl, of Citadel Information Group in Los Angeles.
His tips:
- Keep systems patched with the latest updates. (His security blog, Weekend Vulnerability and Patch Report, lists major updates for software typically found in small offices and home computers.)
- Run up-to-date anti-virus anti-malware software – or what is even better, a strong intrusion detection and prevention solution.
- Use strong passwords for access to sites with sensitive information. Password length is more important than randomness; size matters. ‘2HelloPepper#’ is a much stronger password than “Ab$%16vF” plus it’s a lot easier to remember.
“Be extremely sensitive to social engineering attacks,” Dr. Stahl adds. “Don’t open email attachments or click on links in emails unless the email is from someone you know and is expected.”
For more of Dr. Stahl’s insights, visit his Web site.
(Note: Dr. Stahl is a fellow member of Consultants West, www.consultantswest.com, a roundtable of veteran consultants in the Los Angeles area.)
From the Coach’s Corner, here are more security strategies:
Security Precautions to Take Following Citibank’s Second Reported Online Breach
Why Many Healthcare Workers Are Responsible for Alarming Trend: Medical ID Theft
Lesson about Passwords after Theft of 16,000+ UCLA Patient Records
Most Small Businesses Make You Vulnerable to Credit Card Fraud, ID Theft – Study
Cyber Security: Is Your Business Prepared with Precautions and Response Philosophy?
“Passwords are like underwear: you don’t let people see it, you should change it very often, and you shouldn’t share it with strangers.”
-Chris Pirillo
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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Cyber Security: Is Your Business Prepared with Precautions and Response Philosophy?
Oct. 10, 2011
On a daily basis, there are headlines about cyber crime. Justifiably, the U.S. Senate is again getting into the act: “Senate Committee Approves Data Breach Bills Despite Heavy Opposition.”
Three data security and privacy bills were recently passed in the Senate Judiciary Committee in the face of vehement opposition from Republican members. The multiple bills will be merged into one bill for debate before the full Senate.
These aren’t the first attempts.
As I understand it, the proponents’ goal in Congress is to require companies and federal agencies to protect consumer data, and to pass a national-notification law for data-breach reporting.
Currently, there are a myriad of state laws controlling what businesses must do if their data is breached. Each state has its own requirements. Those laws would take a backseat to any federal law, unless the individual state laws require particular protections and programs to help victims.
Incredibly, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) maintains such an umbrella federal law would be overkill, and would unfairly burden small businesses. Even as a business-performance consultant for small to medium size companies, I differ.
No one wants to see small businesses be hampered, but they need to pay the price of benefiting from such commerce. The right thing to do is to take proper precautions, and to communicate with customers if there’s any evidence of a data breach. And I’d want to consider the potential damage to a company’s reputation. Being lax in security is not acceptable. It’s a sales-opportunity cost.
Growing national headache
As noted here before, cyber crime is a widespread nightmare, including medical breaches: Why Many Healthcare Workers Are Responsible for Alarming Trend: Medical ID Theft.
Indeed, consider a recent breach – the major personal breach of Tricare’s data by a vendor, Science Applications International Corp. It was the breach of unencrypted backup tapes – medical records of some 4.9 million military-personnel patients for the last 19 years. Data includes addresses, Social Security numbers, telephone numbers and more.
What? The company failed to encrypt the data?
Astonishingly, the vendor claims the risks are minimal because it would require additional insider information about the company’s software and hardware. I question such an assertion, too.
“A security breach is like a heart attack or stroke,” warns a nationally known cyber security expert, Dr. Stan Stahl.
“It’s often the things you do first that determine whether the patient lives or dies,” he says. “Doing these right things first depends on management having a clear understanding of the implications of their choices along with the information they need to choose between alternatives.”
He offers an example: “Do we put this server back into production right away because our people need to work on it or do we first preserve any evidence it might contain?” he asks.
He quotes President Dwight Eisenhower: “When going into battle, planning is essential but plans are worthless.”
Obviously, common sense is warranted.
While the Senate debates this vital issue, it’s important to take precautions. Be mindful of your state’s legal requirements. Make certain you’re using the latest security measures. Be prepared with a response strategy in the event of a breach. Tell your customers what you’re doing to solve the issue, and give them ample opportunity to get in touch with your company.
That’s the right thing to do.
Dr. Stahl’s links:
From the Coach’s Corner, there are countless cyber-security tips in this portal’s Tech section, including:
Security Precautions to Take Following Citibank’s Second Reported Online Breach
Our Mobile-Banking Warnings about Security Prove Prophetic
“All violations of essential privacy are brutalizing.”
-Katharine Fullerton Gerould
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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Best Practices to Optimize Your Brand, Manage Your Web Reputation
As you no doubt know, the digital age has brought new challenges and opportunities. Best practices are critical in order to maximize your Web presence and to manage your online reputation.
The Key to Internet Dominance Is to Think Integration – naturally, the first steps include a quality Web site and synching it with your social media, business listings, inbound links and other elements.
Despite warnings here and other places, many small businesses have made a tactical error in thinking Facebook is the crème de la crème in marketing. A Facebook page can be helpful as part of your marketing mix, and a large volume of fans might enhance a site’s ranking on the search engines.
However, Aside from Privacy, Security Issues, Facebook is a Threat 2 Ways. It’s also worth noting that the majority of business Facebook fans aren’t local. Plus, fans usually change their minds. Within a month or so, they decide a business’ Facebook page offerings are boring.
As for advertising, it rarely helps small businesses to insert their ads on the social medium. It’s better to save the money or budget it for prospects to offer loss-leader discounts to try your products or services.
By virtue of its 750 million global members, Facebook is highly ranked. Despite the Facebook buzz, it’s losing members in North America and Europe. Facebook’s growth is in emerging Third World countries.
Moreover, if not managed well, a Facebook page can and will dilute or cannibalize your Web site’s presence. You never want to let any social medium presence outclass your Web site ranking. You want to use a social medium to enhance your site’s presence and drive traffic, not have it stop there.
How to maximize your search-engine listings
In U.S. market share, according to the various ranking services, Google consistently has about a 65 percent share, and Bing and Yahoo each have about 15 percent. Of course, there are others but most use Google for search. Worldwide, Google has a 90 percent share.
So develop a quality Web site. If budget is a concern, it’s possible to use free online tools for an adequate site. Insert your Facebook, Google+ and Twitter widgets. If you cater to a professional clientele, include LinkedIn.
Otherwise, the big Kahuna to generate local customers is Google Places. If a consumer searches for a local product, Google weaves the top seven results at the top. Normally, the top three business listings attract the most customers.
So it’s imperative to maximize your Google Places’ presence:
- Complete all the information – physical address, telephone number and your relevant categories.
- Insert professional pictures and a video.
- Synergize your listing on CitySearch, Local.com, Manta, Merchant Yelp, YP.com and mobile sites such as Foursquare and Facebook Places. Produce an informative video for YouTube.
- Entice your best customers to insert reviews. If feasible, encourage them to take a moment to write a review before they leave your business.
Reinforce your Web presence
Even though you’ve done all the footwork to create a Google Places presence, you’re not done. Next, protect your turf. Yes, many businesspeople have been stunned to learn their local listings were closed on Google Places.
Here are the necessary preventative measures:
- Regularly update your Web site. On your home page, every week make a change, even its small such as a loss leader or testimonial. Again, include your social media widgets if you have a blog, insert the latest headline. Customers and prospective customers will notice. Just as importantly, so will the search engines.
- Strategize with media centers of influence. Write search engine press releases and submit them to local media outlets if you have a newsworthy item. If you Need PR, But Don’t Have a Budget? Here’s How to Leverage News Media. In addition, insert a press page on your site and include your releases. The news media will be a big source of credibility.
- With blogging success, others will want to re-publish your work it or otherwise link to you. Don’t allow them to do so, if they have an inferior Web presence. The first step is to check their site’s Google page rank.
- Regularly monitor your Web presence with search-engine news alerts, especially with Google Alerts and Tweetdeck. Daily search for what’s being written about your business, and evaluate any changes to your search rankings and customer reviews. Respond quickly. So develop a prototypical emergency response strategy including templates. Why? Some competitors of businesses are gaming the system with false reviews for their gain or to badmouth others to enhance their online presence. They furtively do this and can quickly dominate the Internet by downgrading your presence. So keep a careful record of your business listings, and have template responses ready to insert in advertising along with key words ready to implement on the search engines and other sites. This includes responding to journalists, social media and other online forums.
Every business is different. These are merely the basics to cover most situations. But if you implement these steps, you’ll be well on your way for strong results.
From the Coach’s Corner, here’s another resource:
8 Tips to Optimize Sales with Social Media, But Beware of a Red Flag
“Long-term brand equity and growth depends on our ability to successfully integrate and implement all elements of a comprehensive marketing program.”
-Timm F Crull
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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Are HP’s Board and New CEO Headed in Right Direction?
Updated – Dec. 31, 2011
Not to be gauche, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Harry S. Truman were perplexed by the judgment and performance of the board of directors at the world’s biggest-selling tech company. That being the Hewlett-Packard board of directors over the past decade.
Indeed, many people might be wondering if the company might be better-served if the board adopted the former president’s famous mantra, “The buck stops here.” Because the question is, have they acted like it?
It’s unfortunate – the tech company has a rich heritage. That’s not to conclude that the board has ruined the company, because in 2010 it had an enviable $126 billion in sales. It employs 326,000 workers.
But HP has lost more than half its market value. Meantime, the board doesn’t appear to understand the Link between Financial Performance and Succession Planning.
Questions have once again recently risen over the board decisions and strategies, while many analysts approve of recent developments. The storied company plans to continue with its strategy of cloud-based services and enterprise software solutions.
Based on past developments, HP fans, and I’m one of them, might wonder about HP’s long-term strategic planning.
Consider:
- The board hired Carly Fiorina as CEO in 1999. Her performance proved to be unsuccessful, as she apparently didn’t understand a basic principle about mergers (If Mergers & Acquisitions Tempt You, Consult HR Pros). She persuaded the board to force a merger with Compaq – despite all kinds of red flags. At the time, as a media columnist for Belo Web sites, I wrote it would never work because the cultures of the two companies were vastly dissimilar. My predictions proved to be accurate. The merger resulted in the layoff of 17,000 talented people and HP’s financial picture worsened. She was fired in 2005.
- Soon, the board’s chair, Patricia Dunn, hired firms that used illegal methods to try to stop leaks of proprietary HP information to reporters.
- Mark Hurd was hired to run the company. While he did have some success, many analysts believed HP suffered from his lack of vision and poor judgment leading to his forced resignation – over sexual harassment of a marketing consultant, who was actually an actress, and his inconsistent expense-account reports.
- They hired a CEO, Léo Apotheker, who made his own controversial decisions, including plans to change the company’s mission – from world-class hardware to software and cloud computing. Some board members voted to hire him without even meeting him. Mr. Apotheker’s actions prompted declining shares and a shareholder lawsuit.
- The board hurriedly hired a new CEO, Meg Whitman, who had joined the board after she lost to Jerry Brown, Jr. in running for California governor. As head of eBay, she was successful but known for questionable acquisitions. You might recall her 2005 purchase of Skype for $4.1 billion, but eBay ultimately sold it for $2.75 billion four years later.
- Ms. Whitman recently said she supports Mr. Apotheker’s decisions, including the proposed$10.3 billion purchase of commercial software-maker Autonomy, but she will not forego HP’s hardware business. The latter is ostensibly is one the most logical public decisions to come from her office.
- Ms. Whitman’s first announcement that her priority will be to get HP strong financially. But again, HP’s finances were hampered by negative Wall Street reactions to Mr. Apotheker’s actions, which she mostly supports. So how can she achieve such goals, especially since she doesn’t have any enterprise experience?
Ms. Whitman knows she has to make some strategic decisions about hardware, as the company initially indicated it might jettison its PC division. HP’s biggest customers balked at buying PCs until they got clarity on HP’s plans. Savvy consumers were probably hesitant, too. That was my thought when I spotted some flashy HP notebook computers in recent visits to retail stores. Fortunately, HP decided to stay in the notebook computer business.
Following weak sales, Ms. Whitman’s predecessor stopped marketing smartphones and tablets with webOS software, an HP product. She also needs to waive her magic wand in combating the popularity of iPads and smartphones to use the Internet.
Meantime, HP has other complicated matters to solve, including what to do about its services business, its slim profit margins in servers, and slower sales in printers. The latter two might very well be approaching the end of their product life cycle.
Ms. Whitman also promises to get more teamwork and cohesiveness out of her management team. That’d be a good move, too.
Before making any rash irreversible decisions, Ms. Whitman needs to conduct an in-depth SWOT analysis – of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats – followed by a strategic action plan to anticipate emerging trends and capitalize on them. A sophisticated look to the future is prescribed here.
Let’s hope Ms. Whitman comes up with better strategies and communication than she did in her failed gubernatorial campaign and questionable acquisitions at eBay. She also has to be successful working with a board that’s made so many anemic decisions.
HP is a fine company and deserves a better future than its performance of the last decade.
From the Coach’s Corner, here is a related link: Leadership, HR, Marketing Lessons from HP’s Executive Turmoil.
“One of the biggest responsibilities of management is to look after the corporate DNA.”
- Andrew Rolfe
Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complementary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Two Studies Indicate Need for IT Pros to Get Businesslike
Updated Feb. 1, 2012
CEOs have long complained to me about information technology. They complain about high-priced consultants, and that IT projects are too expensive and fail to yield a return on investment.
Now, two 2011 studies underscore the need for IT professionals to become more businesslike.
Study No. 1
At ITBusinessEdge, Ann All wrote a dynamic piece, “Don’t Let IT Projects Get Out of Control.” In it, she cites a study by McKinsey consultants and Oxford University that show both public and private sector IT projects can be a headache.
But the public sector gets more criticism thanks to enterprising journalists.
Ms. All cites Oxford Researcher Bent Flyvbjerg in a silicom.com article.
“A big one is lack of senior executive involvement,” she writes. “Senior managers have tended to see IT as less strategic and delegate responsibility for it…”
She quotes researcher Flyvbjerg, who provides his five solutions to prevent out-of-control IT projects, which include:
1. Benchmark it. This should be the first step, says Flyvbjerg, because it will help organizations understand everything that follows.
2. Get the bias out of the business case. The researchers found most IT projects are “highly biased,” with inaccurate estimates of costs, schedules and benefits.
3. Minimize complexity. This advice gets repeated a lot.
4. Limit project duration. The researchers found that projects that lasted longer than 30 months are the most likely to go out of control.
5. Get a master builder. It’s important to enlist someone with proven project experience, Flyvbjerg says.
Study No. 2
A Tenable Network Security study indicates 90 percent of security professionals are aware of reported breaches, but the majority don’t take proper action.
That’s right, the Tenable press-release headline reads: “90 Percent of Security Pros Take Note of High-Profile Breaches, But Majority do Nothing.”
The study surveyed attendees at the 2011 Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit. More than 90 percent were aware of the Citigroup, RSA and Sony breaches, but only 23 percent didn’t act on the information.
It gets worse.
“Nearly half (46 percent) of attendees surveyed had experienced some form of insider threat while at their current company, but surprisingly ‘preventing insider threats’ was ranked the second-lowest information security priority for the next six to eight months by the field,” said the press release.
“Even more surprising, one in three security professionals admitted that they had violated internal security policies they created in order to complete a work-related task quickly and/or easily,” Tenable added.
Yes, part of the problem with such IT projects is the lack of full participation by upper management, but clearly, chief information officers and their staffs have to do some needed footwork in communication and planning.
From the Coach’s Corner, so there’s no mystery regarding the conclusions in this Study: CFOs Still Calling the Shots in IT Decisions.
Here are two other resource links for IT:
How CIOs Can Get More Respect in the C-Suite
Tech Planning: What if There’s a Double Dip?
“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”
-Bill Gates
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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
