Apex Insights, LLC

"Green" Fever + Recession = Buyer Beware

2009-12-04T13:38:53-06:00

ATTN: Conscious Consumers With climate change high on the global priority totem pole and the economic downturn taking its toll from big banks to our spare change, we must be ever more mindful of organizations who take advantage of that sweet spot unethically. Before we go any further, it's important to note that many companies are perfectly trustworthy, recognizing the power of being both eco-conscious AND profitable. There is a long list of organizations leading the way in finding that balance -- we look to them for inspiration. Some, however, with an increasingly competitive market, eroding margins and angry shareholders, may not always take the high road. Which is not to say they engage in outright malicious practices (though certainly some may) but rather they may find room for compromise, take advantage of loopholes, and be less than 100% forthright in their communications. By now you've heard of "greenwashing" and "localwashing," which sit under the bigger umbrella of "ecowashing" as manufacturers compete for increasingly discerning dollars. Your discerning dollars. The same dollars you now delicately balance against your budget and your conscience. There's big business at this intersection, and companies know it. So what can you do to be more...

"Sustainable" Making Waves on Twitter

2009-10-02T13:23:47-05:00

Sustainable Stats As of today, there are over 160 users on Twitter with the word "sustainable" in their name. WeFollow reports over 313 thousand users following the #sustainable hashtag, and over 919 thousand following #sustainability. Assuming there's some crossover, that's still close to a million people interested in the topic. And that's not counting any spillover into #eco, #green, and #enviro. A search for "sustainable" in Twitter posts yields 160 in the last hour, which would give us 3,840 tweets per day if we assume a comparable rate. A search for "sustainability" in Twitter posts yields 54 posts in the last hour, which would yield 1,296 tweets per day at the same rate. What does it all mean? It means the tide is turning, the culture is adapting, and people are paying attention. As the world wide web continues to level the playing field of information dissemination, more and more people are becoming aware of the need for sustainable living and consuming. The impact for your business? It's something to think about sooner rather than later -- from how you operate to how you contribute. Whether that means incorporating recycling into your operations, streamlining manufacturing processes, lowering or eliminating toxicity,...

Strategic Business Planning: When To Start?

2009-09-10T14:28:11-05:00

Back in 1999, I would have said that a good time to start business planning was during your annual company retreat in Aruba. (Mai Tai's optional, of course.) But as you might have guessed, that's not the case today. Market volatility and the natural-selection-on-steroids process we're witnessing now simply doesn't allow too much luxury time spent in "planning to plan." The short answer on when to start planning business strategy is this: NOW. No matter how you spend your money or focus your personnel, every single component of planning helps better inform those decisions. Here are a few big ways in which planning components can play a pivotal role in attaining your business objectives: Audience Analysis: Have you narrowly refined your targets? Applied the 80/20 rule? Developed personas? Competitive Landscape: What should you do that's "me-too?" Where should you break from the pack? Executive Roadmap: Is every sales and marketing activity tied to a strategy and overarching business goal? Messaging: What is your relevant, values-driven authentic message? What is your thought leadership platform? Integrated Promotions: How will you tie everything together, including social media? Deep down we know the value of planning, and why the following quote resonates: “Planning is...

How to Operationalize Strategic Business Planning

2009-09-03T14:25:57-05:00

By now you may recognize that planning is an essential component of successful business. Perhaps you've read the entry "Moving Beyond 'Plan' as a Four-Letter Word." Perhaps you've even decided as to how you might kick off the process. The previous post "Strategic Business Planning: In-house or Outsource?" covers both options (including pros and cons) in great detail. Making a Commitment In order to bring planning to your organization as a discipline, you must commit to operationalizing it. This means making it part and parcel of periodic business operations, just like payroll or inventory audits. While this may seem daunting initially, it will only take a few instances before it becomes a part of business as usual. Beginning the planning process without commitment from key stakeholders, your organization runs the risk of investing time and money upfront only to find that the process fizzles out. Remember: it doesn't have to be a major undertaking and clog your productivity with weekly meetings. The frequency and duration should correspond with the objectives. And depending on how early you start, the process can simply rolled into all the other activities which correspond to your business objectives. Operationalizing Components Following are key components you'll...

Strategic Business Planning: In-house or Outsource?

2009-08-27T08:10:29-05:00

You're ready to start proactively planning for your organization's success. There are, of course, many different areas in which to plan: accounting, IT, marketing, advertising, etc. For the sake of argument let us assume we are addressing general business direction and market planning -- the five components covered in the previous post of "Moving Beyond 'Plan' as a Four-Letter Word." In this earlier post we cover why strategic planning can be such a challenge but how the most successful organizations and leaders recognize feeling "stuck" and get ready to move past it. Once ready to commit to planning as a serious endeavor, at the most fundamental level you have two options: do it on your own, or work with an outside agent. Let's take a closer look at what each of these approaches means to your organization as well as their pros and cons: In-House: Plan On Your Own There's nothing quite like starting right here, right now to get going. Rallying the troops 'round a table and talking about where you want to take the business is an excellent first step. The key thing to keep in mind is fostering real, passionate commitment among key stakeholders. If the leadership...

Moving Beyond "Plan" as a Four-Letter Word

2009-08-20T11:23:49-05:00

Have you noticed how much productivity experts are in demand these days? How popular blogs like zenhabits.com have become? That everyone is trying to do more with less? The Challenge It's because we are all experiencing information and activity overwhelm on both personal and professional levels. And if you are a small or medium-size business owner, you can pretty safely take the average rate of overwhelm and double it. Between business development, marketing, minding the financials, and managing employee satisfaction and productivity there are really never enough hours in the day. There are always issues that need attention, and periods of relative "quiet" are fleeting at best. Hence the popular saying: "You are your own worst client." Amidst day-to-day customer and operational issues, it's challenging to carve out time to stop (a luxury), reflect (what?), and yes...plan (gasp!). Yet it needs to be done. Stephen Covey points out that we spend most of our time addressing "Urgent but not Important" tasks, e.g. phone calls, e-mail, little time-sensitive issues. And not nearly enough time on "Important but not Urgent" issues. That is...the stuff that really matters. What taking your business to the next level really means, and how you're going to...

What is Conscious Capitalism? Whole Foods CEO John Mackey Responds

2009-08-13T13:15:00-05:00

There is no question that we are changing how we do business -- just watch for proof. And for anyone who would look skeptically askance at the viability of conscious capitalism, let's remember the sundry environmental indicators that the way we have been running the planet is simply not sustainable and a better way is no longer a luxury but necessity. So let's explore what that means. In this video, John Mackey shares his two key principles for Conscious Capitalism, and I'd like to add my comments to them here: Purpose Beyond Profit While every business must profit in order to survive, purpose is what elevates it to thrive. Mackey draws an effective, no-nonsense analogy where he equivocates profit to sustenance, and which I'd like to emphasize by adding in the comparison to Maslow's hierarchy. Just because we need food, safety, and shelter does not mean that we have realized our full potential as human beings (self-actualization). Those basic needs are at the foundation of the hierarchy, and so too with business. But it would seem that many businesses today remain fixated on the basic profit need. Yet in order to self-actualize, the organization (like the individual) must aspire to...

The Cost Advantage of Hiring a Marketing Consultant

2009-08-03T13:20:00-05:00

Today, businesses are looking to get leaner and more efficient. It's a sign of the times, and it is probably here to stay for some time. In considering the marketing activities in an SMB environment, the prudent marketing executive will be quick to weigh hiring an outside strategic expert against the status quo, or more traditional options. Thinking it through is absolutely the right thing to do. Many small and medium-sized companies will initially look at containing costs by using their own internal resources and hiring a new employee. However, there are soft costs we should be aware of associated with that approach. Consider this: the true cost of a full-time employee goes well beyond salary compensation, with the total figure often exceeding annual pay by surprising numbers. Some of the key categories responsible for additional expenses include: 1. Non-salary payroll expenses (taxes, bonuses, etc) 2. Benefits (health and insurance) 3. Recruiting 4. Facilities (equipment, supplies, etc) 5. HR And there's yet another cost which can be measured in dollars and cents, but most importantly, and disturbingly, in terms of sacrificed competitive advantage...it is the cost of expertise. Training is both a line-item expense, but also hard to pin down...

SMB Marketing Staffing Management (part 2:2)

2009-06-20T17:02:47-05:00

The Ups and Downs of Marketing Reality In the first installment we examined the challenge of expertise in small/medium business marketing teams. Here we pay closer attention to staffing from a workload perspective. The real world does not always operate according to plan -- marketing must stay nimble and ready to hit the ground running or hit the brakes according to what the market demands. So in the interest of being realistic lets take a moment to examine allocation of budget and resources in a dynamic marketing environment -- which is the nature of every business environment. With most small and medium businesses, we find that any given calendar year will witness some key initiatives which have a direct marketing impact: 1) Product Launches 2) Key Industry Events 3) Corporate or Product/Service Repositioning 4) Interactive Initiatives (e.g. site re-launches) 5) Fiscal Close Dates It’s fairly evident that as these events occur over the fiscal year, spending and resources must ratchet up and down to successfully achieve goals. The challenge for the marketer, then, becomes how to appropriately plan for maximum efficiency. Rarely are market events scheduled conveniently to keep all employees at a steady and full work pace, and to...

SMB Marketing Staffing Management (part 1:2)

2009-06-20T16:51:16-05:00

Managing The Best People for the Job, But Just Enough of Them One of the great challenges of small to medium sized business is accomplishing all of the functions of the enterprise without an enterprise-sized staff. This is especially timely in today's business climate where every efficiency is paramount. Fortunately, the entrepreneurial nature of smaller businesses usually results in an efficient process of doing more with less – with the most talented employees often wearing many hats. From a marketing perspective, this usually plays out with one or two key decision-makers and a staff of generalists – those who have a broad spectrum of marketing expertise and can aptly work with PR to advertising to interactive agencies. Occasionally there will also be a specialist of some sort on hand, depending on the company’s area of focus. This could be PR, direct marketing, social media, or interactive. Generally speaking, this would make for a pretty solid team who could execute key campaigns and meet the company’s needs in the first few years of growth. However, when looking at a longer-term, more aggressive growth strategy, this structure does reveal its weaknesses. What is oftentimes the case, due to workload and diversity of...