The Engaging Brand

Show 435 - Best Practice for Online Collaboration

The Engaging Brand podcast covering social marketing, business ideas and brand marketing tips has a new episode but before we start...The listener winning an Engaging Brand goodie bag - picked from all the people who share, like, tweet about the show to say a BIG thank you from me! - is Jeannie Bolstridge.

Anna Farmery talks with Lionel Roux from Wimi - a company Wimi specialising in collaborative work tools. We discuss

• Collaboration online - why are people reluctant to it?
• What is the strength of collaboration online?
• What about security of cloud - is this a barrier to growth?
• Why cloud computing increases your security regarding confidentiality?
• Is there a risk that I am at the whim of the cloud service company - should I have cloud backup?
• Cross platform cloud services - and how it is making it easier to create online storage for all your business documentation.
• The importance of open software for online backup
• How cloud computing is embracing branding so that you have control of brand management for shared documents.
• What are the best practices for online collaboration?
• Can you analyse the efficiency of online collaboration?

I love to hear your thoughts so email me, anna@theengagingbrand.com, join me on twitter , Google+ or Facebook...love to hear your opinion and ideas.

How you can listen to The Engaging Brand

1) You can listen on your PC now without downloading any software just click hear to listen to the latest marketing podcast

2) You can subscribe to the show via iTunes or

3) If you use a different podcatcher then you can subscribe using the following RSS Feed

You can now also find it on Stitcher Radio

What is the meaning of your life?

Our little weekend thought tries to inspire you to think differently about your life, your career, your business and this week I want you to....relax!

Too often we take life too seriously, we look at meanings behind everything.....we look for hidden meaning in the gestures of others, the words of others, why we are here etc etc

But remember...the only meaning you need to consider is this

What do you want YOUR life to have meant? When you are out in the garden, at the gym this weekend think less about the meaning of life...and focus on the meaning of YOUR LIFE.

What is Business Value in the Social Age?

Business value is something that I am researching as part of my social business PhD. The valuation of a business has always been linked to adding value  - value through service or value through the combination of raw materials.

Business strategy for creating value used to be "easy" but with the advent of the Internet the consumers have so much more power - they can make, they can access services through social networking, they can even challenge what value you are creating.....

My initial PhD research is showing though that although value creation may be changing...as always the foundation of growing a business has not changed. (Note I will be sharing the PhD research in future newletters - so if you want to know more subscribe to The Engaging Times!)

• Value creation is based on living your values 
• When customers buy into those values, recognising the value of their purchasing, their recommendations, their brand loyalty etc

I often work with entrepreneurs on how to grow their business - in this social age, it is now imperative that you understand this value creation equation

How to grow a business = Living your values in your product/services + Recognising the value of your customers + Undertanding the Values

We can so easily slip into producing, servicing without reflecting on the above....and in a social age, you may ignore...but the customer won't! 

Bob-o-Graphic on What Make an Innovative Culture

This week on The Engagigng Brand we discussed Innovation with Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg  and as the book gives a great insight into business innovation we have created a little Bob-o-graphic for you to use.

1. Focus beats freedom. You need to focus on ideas that matter to the business.
2. Insights come from the outside. Connect to the outside world to find original ideas.
3. Be ready - in fact want to - tweak as first ideas are usually flawed.
4. Select -  Remember your role is to select ideas, as not all ideas are created equal and you must discard the rest so you can focus on the best.
5. Stealthstorm past the internal politics so they work for you not against. Internal politics of innovation will always exist....your role is to pave the way for the innovation to succeed.

And then add that vital leadership behavior.....Persist - Not for ONE day but EVERY day to move from one successful product launch to a business culture that lives and breath innovation - helping your people bring great ideas to life.

This is based on the HBR book Innovation as Usual - website here

Why you need to hold a Board Meeting with....YOURSELF!

Look at your dairy - full of meetings? I bet there are quite a few in your working day...

I am a read believer in getting rid of meetings that are about compromise, covering your back or delaying a decision! But I love meetings that inspire, are focused and blend deep thinking with action orientated outcomes.

For all the meetings that you have.....when do you meet with yourself? When do you review your progress, brainstorm your business interests, inspire your own self-improvement...create actions that will deliver your personal goals?......

Thought so....

We have one precious resource - time and yet we fail to use our own time to think about our own personal branding plan.

To inspire, engage others...we need to inspire and engage ourselves

So set some time aside one a month and have your own board meeting, invite all sides of your personality - the risk taker, the dreamer, the pragmatist and the action man/woman.

Make an agenda and then set to work on reviewing, exploring, deciding and then actioning your own 'me, inc' business strategy.

Tip on Creating Thought Leadership - through Surfing!

Action, action, action - we all know that action is required and we focus our teams on action. However I do believe action needs to stem from a platform of thinking. Thought leadership is often a term that people use without really understanding on what area they truly have thought leadership. 

Thought leadership comes from deep thinking and related business insights. These skills of leadership are often ignored - why? Well it is uncomfortable, hard work and so much easier to hide behind group think or compromise.

Social media is a wonderful tool to develop these skills in leadership. Social media expresses an array of different views, it allows you to read and think. By surfing the social media channel you can develop your thinking skills and create business insights from taking strands of ideas, of data analysis to then allow your thought leadership to evolve.

I use the word surf because ideas come in waves and it is about not riding a wave but understanding what creates waves, the underlying mechanics of waves etc I also think surfing is difficult to master...it needs technique, a desire to learn, a desire to fail in order to succeed. Sometimes your thinking will feel shaky but the more you surf the thinking wave, the more your technique strengthens and the more your ideas make it all the way to the market shore.

Are social media tools...or a mindset?

When businesses struggle with social media marketing, it is often as simple as how they view social media tools. Successful social marketing is often more about the mindset then the social media tools themselves...

...because the emphasis too often on the media and not the social and the social is an approach to business, an approach to leadership and management, an approach to marketing.

Social is not something that we can be bought through pay per click or marketing campaigns....social is a style, a culture, an ability to find, share and connect with people.

Yes, you can buy media space however you can possibly gain brand awareness, but you cannot buy brand engagement. You can buy likes, followers but you cannot buy brand engagement.

Social media tools are delivery mechanisms for your brand's personality not a replacement!

Therefore is social media seems to be a waste of resource, a waste of time....ask yourself - do we have a social culture mindset or just a set of social media tools being deployed?

Show 434 - What is innovation?

The Engaging Brand podcast covering social marketing, business ideas and brand marketing tips has a new episode but before we start...The listener winning an Engaging Brand goodie bag - picked from all the people who share, like, tweet about the show to say a BIG thank you from me! - is Vivien Boirdron.

Anna Farmery talks with Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg about bringing ideas to life. Thomas is an expert in corporate creativity, Lecturer at IESE Business School and Partner at The Innovation Architects. We discuss

• Why has innovation got such a mystique when as human beings we have always been evolving as a species.
• What is innovation and why is it aimed at products and services rather than how we create a successful business?
• How behaviour is a function of personality and environment
• Do you need to be innovative inside the company before you can be innovative outside in the marketplace?
• How focus is more important to innovation than freedom.
• How you should train people in observation.
• How to stop internal politics from stopping innovation.
• How customers can persuade management about innovation.
• Can retail layout be applied to office design to create engagement?

I love to hear your thoughts so email me, anna@theengagingbrand.com, join me on twitter , Google+ or Facebook...love to hear your opinion and ideas.

How you can listen to The Engaging Brand

1) You can listen on your PC now without downloading any software just click hear to listen to the latest marketing podcast

2) You can subscribe to the show via iTunes or

3) If you use a different podcatcher then you can subscribe using the following RSS Feed

You can now also find it on Stitcher Radio

How to Change your Thinking About Life

Life has a way of overtaking you and often weekends can be a great time to take stock of your personal brand - both inside and outside of work....

Bab's Booster this week is a little reminder that personal growth is a choice, your success is not about what you can expect to be given...but a result of what you give to life.

It may seem a subtle play on words but the effect can be dramatic. If your career has stalled or you feel in a rut...change your mindset from one of passive living to one of active design. We can wait a long time to finally get what we wanted or we can start today designing the life we want and how we can create a legacy to be proud of...

So grab a pen, write a blog post, get on social media....whichever way works best for you transform your thinking from what you expect from life, to what life - and all those people around you - can expect from you.