Author: Garth Beyer

Bottom funnel numbers, sure, makes sense. Need to measure. Need to quantify. Numbers matter, especially when it comes to sales, profit, investors, etc.,

Awareness. Loyalty. Impression (not the numerical impression). Impact. – these are far more difficult to measure, but extremely important to evaluate.

Does it put them to sleep? Are they excited and moved? Do they share it with others (and does it become more valuable when they do)?

Hard to quantify in a dashboard and sentiment analysis only goes so far (IMO – AI isn’t sophisticated enough to understand the nuances of sarcasm through the published word and like most numerical metrics, once you focus on them, they are easy to change).

Quantify when you need to, otherwise focus on the emotion ignited and the actions that follow rather than some easily influenced numerical data.

Stay Positive & Seek Out The Emotion

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There’s the secrete formula to becoming an impresario.

You need skill and you need care.

And here’s all it takes to get either: curiosity.

If you’re curious enough about what it takes, then you’ll have enough motivation to learn the skill(s).

And if you’re curious enough about why it matters, then you’ll be inspired enough to share what you create.

Skill and care, that’s all it takes.

Stay Positive & Are You Thinking About What’s Next? (It’s A Curious Thing To Do)

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I’m a little unconvinced when someone says they are a professional and all they do is push buttons.

I guess, in a way, they are a professional in that strict (rather, restricted) category of pushing buttons.

But the real professionals, the ones that get paid more, get talked about, get sought after go beyond the button-pushing.

They bring art and invent new buttons (the metaphorical ones that others carry) and they push them because they’re professionalism is designed around finding the edge and then ideating or innovating beyond the boundary.

Pushing buttons is all well and good, but it’s not what the world demands. If anything, it’s what the world is optimizing (or automating) away from.

Will you stay behind? Or go beyond the buttons?

Stay Positive & Go Ahead, Push Yourself

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The most important component of the business plan is the potential market size.

Without confidence and facts in there being a market available to you – and a sizeable one to support not only the sustaining of your business but the growth and development of it too, then everything else is either an uphill battle or waste.

This is the problem with marketing driven organizations. They market regardless of the market capture rate.

On the other hand, this is where the success lies in market driven organizations. They market where the need is, where the volume is, where the share is.

You can argue that there is a vast sea of potential customers… you can design the best rod and reel and lure… you can situate boats and fishers across the entire water… and you can use GPS that tells you there are fish under the water – but, and this is the big but: if they’re not hungry…

Figuring out if fish are hungry (and then figuring what they are hungry for) isn’t easy, but it’s essential if you plan to run a thriving business.

Stay Positive & Start There, Then Cast Your Net

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What if Facebook goes down for the day?

What if MailChimp goes down for two weeks?

What if your website crashes for a few days?

Scenario planning doesn’t need to stop with the digital space either.

What if your staff all call in sick?

What if the power goes out?

Turns out it helps to build a brand assuming the tools you’ll use won’t work.

Because the fact is sometimes they won’t.

Best to not make the tool your business model.

Stay Positive & Find Your Foundation

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Rather than surprise and delight, consider giving them snacks to delight on.

Add things in that give a little chuckle, something they can share, heck, it might even be actual snacks in the packaging.

The little things matter and they often make a longer-lasting impact than the big things.

Stay Positive & Snack-sized

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How can a brand be generous? After all, it’s vital for any kind of loyalty, any kind of magic, any kind of meaningful change.

Generosity can be giveaways, free samples and freebies, but the generosity that really impacts is the spirit and soul of generosity.

Generosity is both a personal and shared experience.

Generosity is working in a way that’s a role model for others. Generosity is working in a way that gives to your employees (because you know the better you treat your team, the better the team treats your customers and the better your customers treat your business). Generosity is about adding value where there was none (regardless of whether you charge for it or not).

Generosity is the idea that things can always be better and every day is spent finding the truth in that.

And one quick reminder of why generosity works? It’s rare. It’s scarce. Your competitors aren’t doing it.

There’s no blueprint or map to generosity; it comes from within.

Stay Positive & It’s On You To Map It Out

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