Profits Eat Innovation for Breakfast

Michael Porter said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This is the first thing that popped into my mind when I read Steve Blank’s HarvardBusiness Review article explaining why Jeff Immelt lost his job as CEO of GE. Steve argues activist investors forced out Immelt because of the long, languishing performance of the company’s stock. Following Mr. Immelt out…

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It’s Time for a New Way of Thinking About Business

Large corporations and conglomerates, the engines of growth and vitality in the twentieth century, have lost their edge and their image. They have proven themselves unable to innovate, and they have lost more jobs than they create. My friends who “grew up” with lifetime careers in General Motors, Exxon Mobil, or even IBM, are now…

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Startup Marketing Should Skip Traditional Advertising

The power and influence of paid media advertising, including print ads, TV commercials, radio, and even online digital campaigns is waning, in favor of unpaid earned and owned messaging from your website, social media, key market influencers, and existing customer word-of-mouth. But startups need to remember that even zero paid media doesn’t mean that marketing…

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Why Inbound Marketing Alone Likely Won’t Work Anymore

Much has been written opining the impact of high-levels of content publishing online across the globe and its impact on marketing. In fact, Mark Schaefer was the first to kick off the debate in January of 2014. To paraphrase his argument: The amount of content being published online is increasing at an exponential rate and…

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Should You Employ the Internet of Things in Your Business?

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been around for a few years, and companies have been integrating one-stop systems to have a collection of IoT devices together to make life more convenient. You can see examples of this by looking at smart-homes where simple processes have become automated like that of temperature control, vacuuming, and…

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3 Powerful Tips to Modernize Your Customer Service

Customers today interact with brands and businesses in ways that were previously never imagined. You can now talk to the owner of a company directly on Twitter or publish your thoughts of a brand to millions of readers that make purchasing decisions based on customer reviews. As a business, in order to stay ahead of…

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How Content Marketing Transformed My Business (And Life)

It was a paperback book someone I trusted and respected had recommended. Its title was good but not great. The headline wasn’t so compelling that it would stop you in your tracks. But something about it made me want to start reading and open the cover. Most of it was read in coffee shops near…

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Top 5 Trends in Customer Service Innovation Heading into 2018

Customer service has always been key to a business’s reputation, but it’s more important than ever today. Consumers across the globe have access to a world of options, and if one business fails to satisfy their needs, they can look elsewhere. For example, 78 percent of consumers have abandoned a transaction due to poor service,…

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