Emotions are wonderful things, they are what truly make us human. 

I often hear people say how emotions change over time...but I always think that emotions are universal.

What changes over time is that the more you witness different experiences and with those experiences it gives you a different perspective. 

So in a sense the more experiences you have the greater your personal growth.

In the past,  to reach your customers you had to advertise, you had to pay a salesforce, pay for advertising and encourage word of mouth.

In the present, to reach your customers you do exactly the same EXCEPT....so what has changed?

...the weighting.

Where advertising, marketing and sales were significant internal costs with word of mouth a wonderful extra...now word of mouth marketing has a much more significant role in finding new customers. 

Largely, with minimal cost you can increase your customer base through word of mouth marketing - so the customers are effectively a 24/7 salesforce working around the clock for you and the brand.

It is not that advertising, marketing and the sales team are not required it is that they are now joined by social media marketing. 

The social media monitoring can provide the leads for the sales and marketing teams.

The social media can provide the a proportion of brand awareness.

It is easy for companies to think that no 'traditional' marketing or advertising is required - and it is true you can build a brand without it - however, the chance of success is heightened if you can use the strength of both social and traditional tools.

Advertising can provide the quantity (and some quality), social media can provide the quality (and some quantity).

The perfect match for business growth!

We are all encouraged to plan - create action plans, project plan and a business plan. Planning is important to business management

BUT

too often the plan takes over - people hide behind it, people feel restricted by it, people stop thinking as they turn to 'following the plan'. 

So what is a business plan for?

As Bob says in the cartoon....the plan should NOT control you but GUIDE you.

Plans are meant to be flexible not static.

Plans are meant to be set a path but paths are rarely straight.

Plans don't remove thinking, they inspire thinking.

Plans are the the sketch not the finished masterpiece 

Strategy in business is one of those phrases that can make a grown person cry....because it is used with such business jargon as paradigm shift, proposition, strategic imperatives.....all of which are totally unemotional and not at all engaging.

Leaders may sound clever using the business jargon but they don't sound passionate, they may sound worldly but they don't sound human! And leaders may have the job title of leader but have they engaged people to follow?

The question is this...would you try and sell your product or services to customers with this kind of slogan

"There is a strategic imperative for you to make a paradigm shift to our value proposition - buy now"

I suggest not.

So why do leadership and management try and sell the brand vision, the business vision in these terms? After all what is a business strategy for other than engaging people's hearts and minds?

Keep business strategy, marketing strategies...any strategy simple

• What are you wanting to change in the world for the better?
• Why are you so passionate about it?
• How will you change the world?
• And by when ...

Marketing in business has grown in complexity - not in terms of the aim but in the array of choices of how we reach the customer.

Digital marketing has grown from blogging to social networking to many more social media marketing tools and of course with the rise of the tablet or smartphone, mobile marketing is becoming another area to consider....

I have been researching mobile for business over the last few years and wanted to share with you this infographic from Slicktext which looks at specifically SMS marketing.

I will ask the guys to come on The Engaging Brand podcast to explain in more depth so any questions let me know!

There has always been an irony for me - that the term 'a business' sounds impersonal, separate and almost intangible!

Yet business is all about people, it is emotive, personal and brought to life through connections and collaboration. When coaching I try and concentrate on the word 'US' in business because if we understand their true value then we grow our business.

Us is wide in definition and covers...

US= How well you collaborate with your colleagues

US= How well you connect the vision to the team and the team to the business vision.

US= How well you connect to the outside world - suppliers, stakeholders

US= How well you understand and communicate with customers

US= How well you see the pivotal role of business within society

US= How well we connect personal values to business value creation

Another US that we often ignore is both sides of our personality! Let me explain....

We have many human behaviors or aspects of business life that need reconciling

Risk vs Secruity

Routine vs Different

Self critical vs self confident

Work vs Home

Decisions vs Consensus

And many more....to ensure that our career's achieve our full potential...our relationship with ourselves gives us the strong base to connect with others.

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.

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.

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!