LinkedIn Drives the Most Traffic to Corporate Websites

As busy professionals who’ve been around the block a few times, we’re guessing you’re more comfortable with LinkedIn than you are with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and other popular social media platforms. Don’t let your younger staffers (or kids) give you a hard time about that. Chances are your peers feel the same way about LinkedIn--and it’s your peers who are the primary decision influencers at their organizations.

Let’s face it. Most of us don’t have time to put the energy we’d like to into mastering social media and social networking. But, if you’re interested in driving qualified prospects to your website and to your other online resources, concentrate your energies on LinkedIn. We’re not advising you to ignore the other social media channels since each has its merits. But, there are only so many hours in the day and LinkedIn will probably give you the best bang for your social buck.

Still not convinced? Well, the new Investis IQ Audience Insight Report tracked visitors to corporate websites from social media platforms. Guess what? LinkedIn drives significantly more traffic to corporate websites than all the other social platforms combined. And you thought LinkedIn was just a respectable place to keep your professional bio and contacts up to date!

According to the survey, LinkedIn accounts for nearly two thirds (64%), of all visits to corporate websites from social media sites—and that percentage is growing, researchers say. Twitter is a distant second, although it’s gaining traction, up from 4 percent in 2011 to 14 percent today. Researchers attribute that growth to the increase in the number of companies adopting Twitter for corporate communications. Ny contrast, Facebook’s sharehas decreased by nearly half in the past two years, to 17 percent from 30 percent. The findings may indicate that Facebook is a declining platform for B2B corporate marketing.

Get mobile ready

Researchers believe the Big Three--LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter--account for 95 percent of visits to corporate websites from social media sites. No surprise there, but the report also found that 20 percent of all traffic to corporate websites came from mobile devices (primarily of the “i” variety). However, less than a one in four companies (23%) provides either a dedicated mobile site or a “responsive” website. There is clearly a lot more for corporate websites to do.

Improving your LinkedIn Profile (and your firm’s)

There are many quick and easy ways to improve your LinkedIn presence, just make sure you think each step through carefully before you post. We’re talking about your professional reputation here. These are just a few:

·       
 Make sure you have a company page, not just a personal one—and share content that adds value. The company page enables you to do display your slide presentations, video clips, press mentions, articles, recent awards and anything else that makes you a “thought influencer.”

·       
 Join a group (the right way). Participate in discussions that your clients and prospects are likely to be following. Again, there’s that “thought influencer” angle. Just don’t post comments for the sake of getting your name out there. If you’re not really adding value to the thread, sit that particular discussion out and just follow along. Wait till the next topic comes around. Sooner or later, there will be one that’s right in your wheelhouse and you can post and opine with 100 percent confidence. You (and the group) will be glad you waited for your turn at bat.

·       
 Start your own group. Look closely at the types of questions for which your clients or customers are frequently asking your advice. Chances are thousands of other people whom you’ve never met are wrestling with the same issue. Find the common thread within those questions—say risk management, tax mitigation or portfolio insurance—and form a niche group around those topics. Once again, you’re positioning yourself as a though leader and it’s a great way to draw new prospects into your nurturing funnel.

Just a word of caution. It’s easy to start groups—it’s harder to maintain them. Be consistent. Be proactive and be honest with yourself about how frequently you (and your team) can post and moderate. 

     
Conclusion

     
Social and mobile is not going to go away, but you can’t possibly keep up with all the new technologies, applications and uses of it. It’s better to master one or two and seek help for the rest. There are plenty of talented, reasonably priced contractors out there to help you—but you may also find a few folks right under your own roof with a real passion and interest for a particular mobile/social channel. As my old Israeli army boss used to say, “You don’t get if you don’t ask.”

More tips can be found on the FREE Resources page of our website.

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Tags: LinkedIn traffic driver, LinkedIn for business professionals, LinkedIn over Facebook Twitter, Social Media Marketing, Investis IQ Audience Report

What business, financial pros can learn from association leaders

A recent article of mine (with companion video and benchmarking research), drew from interviews with over a dozen top execs at North American associations. As many of you probably know, trade associations are at a crossroads right now. Many of their core members—Boomers—are aging out of the workforce and the up-and-coming members of many professions don’t use the word “join” the same ways previous generations do. What’s more, the web provides many of the same information for free that associations used to charge a pretty penny for and social media has allowed Millenials to be better connected and on a more global scale, than even the most extroverted of boomers and Generation X’ers.

So are trade association about to go the way of the 8-track, the PC and the Blackberry? Not so fast. Our research shows that about 40 percent of them have enjoyed membership growth over the past three years. The better ones are getting pretty good at adapting to changing times and are finding new and clever ways to connect with always-on-the go members and think long and hard about what their key value proposition is. In most cases, it’s by being the most trusted and No.1 voice of their industry. They’re deep into data mining to see what makes their members tick and they’re finding new ways to generate revenue besides the good old fashioned dues bill.

So what’s in it for me?

Just substitute the word “client” or “customer” for member and much of what top associations are doing could be very transferable to your business or practice. I also thought you’d be interest in how one of our clients is smartly integrating articles with companion video and proprietary research to provide a deeper content learning experience for their stakeholders.

As always, more tips can be found on our blog and the FREE Resources page of our website.

Conclusion

There are a lot of smart people out there. Don’t limit yourself just to your own industry and professional peers. A good idea is a good idea, regardless of who or where it came from.

More tips can be found on the FREE Resources page of our website.

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Tags: what business leaders can learn from trade associations, boomers retiring, Millenials well connected

Adapting Without Caving in

What B2B marketers can learn from wrestling’s reinstatement to Olympics.

With Syria, 9/11 and the new Apple iPhone introduction dominating headlines this week, you may have missed another important story that’s been stirring international controversy since February. The sport of wrestling—real, unscripted, grappling by remarkably fit men and women—overcame a death sentence by the International Olympic Committee this winter and was reinstated (video). That rarely happens.

This means wrestling, a sport which dates back to the ancient Olympics over 3,000 years ago, is back on the Summer Olympic program, at least through 2024. Even if you don’t know a half-nelson from a headlock, there are some valuable lessons here for any marketer who thinks their brand and products are so entrenched in the marketplace that they will never be challenged or lose relevancy.

Big time wakeup call

In February, wrestling, which has appeared in all the modern Games dating back to Athens in 1896, was axed from the 2020 program after the IOC executive board made an assessment of the performance of all 26 sports in the 2012 London Olympics. Just like that. Cut. After 3,000 years.

Our comment at the time, “IOC Grappling with Irate Customer, Member Base” was the most widely read and circulated post in the six year history of this weekly blog. We’re big sports fans here, but we rarely cover athletics in this forum unless there’s a business angle.

Sucking it up

Rather than throw in the white towel (wrestlers rarely do), or publicly criticize the IOC for its short-sightedness, the world wrestling community sprang into action via social media, traditional media and face-to-face outreach. For once, countries as diverse as the U.S., Russia and Iran found some common ground (some would say common enemy). The global grappling community flooded the IOC website and amassed a list of petitions, signatures and endorsements on its behalf from 35 of the 50 U.S. governors and from leaders from over 100 countries. Outdoor competitions and exhibitions were held in major cities around the globe to showcase the sport to average, everyday citizens.

Rather than defend its legacy status as one of the original Olympic sports, wrestling took its demotion as a “wakeup call.” In short, it was time to modernize the sport and make it easier for the average Olympic viewer to understand, with more offense, less stalling, more female competitors and shorter time periods. All while preserving the sports’ basic integrity.

Even former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld got into the act. Rumsfeld, a former Princeton grappler, wrote an open letter to the IOC and an emotional op-ed piece for the Washington Post and other media outlets. “Wrestling is a universal sport that anyone can participate in regardless of geography, weather, race, gender, or economic background,” Rumsfeld wrote in February. “All that is needed is a flat surface, two competitors and a referee.”

“This crisis gave us the strength to change and we finally found we can change," observed Nenad Lalovic, new head of the international wrestling federation (FILA).

“I would like to offer my congratulations to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles,” said IOC President Jacques Rogge. “Wrestling has shown great passion and resilience in the last few months. They have taken a number of steps to modernize and improve their sport, including the addition of more women and athletes in decision-making positions; rule changes to make the sport more exciting and easy to understand; and an increase in the number of women’s competitions.”

Conclusion

Every once in a while a company, group or leader gets knocked from atop its long-held pedestal, accepts its new reality without making excuses, and finds ways to change and adapt to a new environment without sacrificing its core values. As a sports entertainment product, Olympic-style wrestling—real, unscripted, grappling—is not perfect and still has a lot of work to do. But the discipline, focus and resilience that so many of the sport’s leaders learned as young athletes, will help them find the path of least resistance through the new environment of TV- and mobile-friendly Olympic competition/entertainment. Don’t be afraid to change, or assume you’ll never have to. But when you do make changes, explore all viable options carefully and never stray from your core values.

More tips can be found on the FREE Resources page of our website.

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Tags: Olympic wrestling, Jaques Rogge, IOC, FILA, Donald Rumsfeld, Nenad Lalovic, US Iran Russia agree

Every Day Is Labor Day; Are You Listening to Me?

As we rub the late summer sand, sunblock and slumber out of our eyes today, let’s remember what yesterday’s Holiday was all about—taking a break from work during a “work day” to honor those in the workforce.

While these three-day national holiday weekends can easily stretch into four or five days, I know I’m not alone when I say it’s getting harder than ever to get back into groove. Funny thing about it—most of us were checking email, posts, tweets and fairly tethered to our mobile devices over the long weekend, so it should be easier to get caught up, not harder, right? Not so fast.

We may have been “checking in” while out of our normal work routine, but we weren’t trying to hold back the information deluge.

Also, the so-called work day has lost its conventional boundaries and the pressure to stay in touch has never been greater. The pace of doing business is also faster than it used to be and the amount of information that the typical worker must manage is infinitely larger than before. It doesn’t matter if you’re the CEO or the summer intern.

I’m not sure if all this technology is making us more efficient, but at least there are more ways to communicate with each other and connect with someone if they’re ignoring you on one of their phones. Problem is, you never get a break and your brain never has a chance to recharge for optimal efficiency and fresh ideas.

Understanding different communication styles

I recently did a piece for Association Adviser, which has a following of over 5,000 trade association execs. While working on the article, it became clear that workforce communication styles are changing and we’re never going back to the “command and control” top down style in the association world. It seems the same holds true in the corporate and government sector.

Jeff DeCagna, chief strategist of Principled Innovation, told me that 21st century [association] leaders increasingly rely on “collaboration, listening and nurturing,” rather than command and control.

At a big association gathering I attended last month, Susan Cain, best-selling author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, said that introverts are increasingly finding their way to the corner office. She also said you need to understand that introverts on your team aren't "lesser contributors or less successful in social interaction." Instead, they process knowledge and interact with their surroundings in a quieter way. "They tend to be passionate, but somewhat shy and value periods of solitude which allow them to be [optimally] creative."

Getting personal

My wife and I had a heated debate the other night about who’s not paying enough attention to the other. She claimed I no longer have the ability (or willingness) to listen to what she’s trying to share with me. I claim she no longer has the ability to summarize information or divvy it up into digestible chunks that I can handle after a long day of being communicated to. I’m try to follow what she’s sharing, but get overwhelmed by the depth and breadth of details and nuance she can pick out of things that happen to her during the day

Does any of this sound familiar?

Conclusion

Whether it’s in your work, your family or volunteer settings, we could all do a better job of respecting each other’s personality types (i.e. introverts vs. extroverts) and communication style (free-flowing conversational vs. bullet-point and concise; emphathy vs. problem solving).

If you naturally dominate the room, learn to let others into the conversation as they may have great insights to share with the group. If you’re naturally shy, learn to speak up. If you’re a great story teller, maybe you can work on giving the abbreviated version first, and reigning back on the details unless your conversation partner truly asks for them. And if folks are telling you that NOT everything in life can be condensed into 140-characters or a few terse bullet points, then maybe allow those around you to share a few details and some color. It’s not only how they communicate information, it’s how they tell you they’re feeling.

Make each day about doing great work, not about laboring to communicate.

More tips can be found on the FREE Resources page of our website.

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Tags: Association Adviser, Jeff DeCagna, Susan Cain, Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking men vs. women communication

Bye Bye Blackberry?

In case you missed it, Joseph Nocera, had an insightful piece in yesterday’s NY Times about companies who get paralyzed by early success and forget how to adapt when market forces or other competitive dynamics come into play.

From Wang Computer in the 1970s to Research in Motion (aka Blackberry) today, the technology industry is littered with companies who were not nimble, ruthless or willing enough to “disrupt their own business models when they sense a threat on the horizon.”

It’s not only complacency or lack of fresh ideas that comes into play, but the alliances and strategic partnerships (tech folks call those the installed base), makes it harder to operate and harder to compete.

Same goes for law firms, accounting firms, financial planning firms and insurance pros. It’s good to get bigger, stronger, more powerful and hopefully wealthier—but it’s almost impossible to have a lock on the marketplace for long. Your premium service can become a competitor’s loss-leader in a flash. Your top talent can bail out on you at a moment’s notice and your clients might not be complaining overtly (but chances are they’re shopping around).

Disclosure: I recently succumbed to pressure from peers (not to mention my kids), and purchased an Android smartphone to replace my creaky Blackberry. My typing stinks on the new device and I’ve misdialed a few numbers, but the apps are great, it’s highly intuitive and my overall productivity is higher after just a few days.

To make sure you’re staying lean and mean, check out our Gut Check self-assessment test or other
tools on the FREE Resources page of our website.

Macro View

Consumer confidence paused in August, mortgage rates are rising, residential home construction rose less than expected in July and the stock market had its worst week of the year. If you think that’s cause for alarm, then think again. The financial markets are up 16 to 18 percent for the year, housing starts cranked out another 6 percent last month and the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan is still near its six-year high. If some investors (e.g. profit-takers) are using this as a cause for alarm it’s like worrying about Detroit Tigers slugger, Miguel Cabrera having only a few big hits last week. When you’re hitting north of .360 for the year, even going one-for-three once in a while will take your batting average down a few tick, but you’re still putting up MVP numbers.

ConclusionIt’s easy to get complacent at this time of year when the weather is hot, workspace are half empty and the “Out of Office” replies outnumber your received emails. Don’t give in and wait for after Labor Day. Now’s the time to drop the email device and see clients and prospects in person. They’ll appreciate the effort and relish the chance simply to talk and listen, rather than having to type, post and scroll. 

More tips can be found on the FREE Resources page of our website.

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Tags: Joseph Nocera, Wang Computer, Blackberry demise, complacency, unable to adapt

Live Events Still King in B2B—But Reasons Not So Obvious

Keep your antennae up in the elevator and on the shuttle bus. Make time to engage an introvert

A new study from ABM (The Association of Business Information & Media Companies)  reinforces what many of you suspected, but may have been reluctant to express to your peers. B2B marketers still place a higher value on live events than on any other media channel for lead generation and for promoting new products. Researchers found that 89 percent of B2B marketers considered face-to-face events a “successful” channel for them. Rounding out the top five were: Sponsored white papers (75%), sponsored video (69%), webinars (64%) and e-newsletter advertising (64%). TV, radio, outdoor and mobile brought up the rear, with less than one-in-three marketers advocating their use.

As I head off to one of the biggest annual events in the association world this weekend, it’s hard to argue with the power of face-to-face interaction in this digitally dominated world. But where I’ve personally gotten the most value is not from the trade show floor, planned networking events, “meet-up” destinations or social events—it’s from the chance encounters on hotel and convention center elevators, in the fitness center and especially on the shuttle busses to and from the convention center.

More on that in a minute.

At the end of the day, everyone at an industry or professional conference shares common interests with each other—or else they wouldn’t be going there to network, learn and associate with their peers. They’ve taken time out of their busy schedules (and dollars out of their budgets) to make the commitment to attending. And you never know if that chance encounter will end up being more valuable to your business or career than any of the planned meetings you had on your schedule.

Macro View

Despite a lackluster jobs report, home prices jumped 12.2 percent over this time a year ago, marking the largest annual gain since March of 2006, according to the Standard & Poor’s Case Shiller 20-city home index. Researchers said home values are rising as more buyers are bidding on a relatively tight supply of housing with the prospect of rising mortgage rates on the horizon.

Meanwhile, and index we created of business and entrepreneurship magazines (Fortune, Inc., Entrepreneur, Wired and Fast Company) was down 1.5 percent over this time a year ago according to min/min online data suggested a mixed bag on the B2B advertising front. On the midsize front, Inc. was up 39 percent, while big company Fortune was down over 17 percent. On the entrepreneurial side, Wired was up 9 percent, but Fast Company was down 17 percent year-over year.

Conclusion

You never know who you’re going to run into. But if you don’t get your face out of your screen and your fingers off the keyboard once in a while, you’ll never find out. As Susan Cain, best-selling author of “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Won’t Stop talking,” quipped in her keynote address today at the ASAE Annual Meeting & Expo in Atlanta, “some of the best ideas come from serendipitous interactions.” Long live the serendipity of live events!

More tips can be found on the FREE Resources page of our website.

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Tags: Live events, serendipity, power of live events, B2B marketing, ABM, Association of Business Information & Media Companies, Case Schiller, Susan Cain, power of introverts, ASAE annual conference

Business Owners; What Are You Waiting for?

Remember how you felt when you didn’t have the courage to ask out that cute guy/girl you had such a crush on back in school? Remember how you felt when that  couple outbid you and your spouse on your dream house by just a few bucks? Don’t let that feeling creep back into your life in the corner office.

According to the University of Michigan consumer confidence survey released Friday, Americans are more confident about the economy than at any time since July 2007. UM’s index of consumer sentiment rang in at 85.1 in July—that’s up nearly 13 points from this time a year ago. Researchers said rising home prices and consistent job gains are boosting feelings of household wealth and income. While the beige book statistics coming out of Washington are consistently underwhelming, we’re putting more stock in the psychology of the U.S. consumer and business owner than what the economists’ numbers indicate.

According to the UM data, the proportion of Americans who expect their incomes to rise in the coming year is greater than at any time since late 2007. And the percentage of Americans who say they believe their home values have risen is also at a six-year high.

Conclusion

If your firm or business is still in “hunker down” mode—afraid to hire the help you need and too insecure to upgrade your systems and infrastructure—then that whooshing sound you hear may be your competitors (and top talent), blowing right by you. Borrowing costs (for you and your customers) will not get any lower. The financial markets, while at record highs, are still historically cheap. If you’re serious about taking your firm or business to the next level, then the time’s never going to be better than RIGHT NOW. Be a bold leader, not a disconsolate shoulda-woulda-coulda. Make your move today and go all in. You’ll be glad you did. 

More tips can be found on the FREE Resources page of our website.

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Tags: Consumer confidence, University of Michigan survey 

What Successful People Never Do

It’s a Friday and we’re in Day Six of a near-triple-digit heat wave here in the Northeast. Obviously productivity is not at 100 percent across most of the working world (look how late our post is this week).
Half the people you count on are away for vacation or pretty much mailing it in before they leave. The other half are running around like chickens with their heads off, frantically checking things off a punch list that seems to gets longer (not shorter) the closer they get to their vacation departure date.

Some of our clients are blowing off our weekly “gut check” calls and that’s where the highest performing organizations separate themselves from the rest of the pack. Like great sports teams, elite military units and award winning symphonies, they find that extra gear that allows them to grind it out and focus when everyone else is mailing it in. The dividends for that kind of discipline will be huge after Labor Day.

Bernard Marr, a best-selling author and business performance expert sent us this great post the other day and it really gave us a lift around the office. “The is one thing all radically successful people have in common,” notes Marr, “Their ferocious drive and hunger for success makes them never give up.” Contrary to popular opinion, they’re not always successful at everything they do, but they have a unique ability to “pick themselves up, dust themselves off and carry on trying.”

To drive his point home, Marr deconstructs the failures of Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Bill Gates and other luminaries before they hit it big. And what struck us the most was that some of their ideas that didn’t catch on actually sounded pretty good. It’s not just having a great idea, but having a great idea at just the right time, with the right team and resources behind you to execute it.

Conclusion

“The truly successful won't be beaten,” observes Marr. “They take responsibility for failure, learn from it and start all over from a stronger position.” Amen, Bernard.

Stay cool. Work hard. Play hard. And for goodness sakes, don’t ever take your foot off the accelerator. Life’s too short not to get the most out of each and every day.

More tips can be found on the FREE Resources page of our website.

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Tags: Bernard Marr, What successful people never do

Can the Young and Old Co-Exist in the Workplace?

If you have summer interns or recent college graduates at your organization right now, chances are you’re pretty frustrated. If you’re a young person just starting out in your career, chances are you’re pretty frustrated as well. So who’s at fault when both sides just aren’t getting it?

According to a new report by The Chronicle of Higher Education and American Public Media’s Marketplace published in March found that about half of 704 employers who participated in the study said they had trouble finding recent college graduates qualified to fill positions at their company.

What really caught our attention was the lack of “specific technical skills” wasn’t the whole story. Turns out employers are even more distressed by job candidates’ lack of “written and oral communication skills, adaptability and managing multiple priorities, and making decisions and problem solving.” In other words THE ABILITY TO THINK!

Jaime S. Fall, a vice president at the HR Policy Association, who was interviewed in Alina Tugend’s piece in last Friday’s New York Times about this report said young employees “are very good at finding information, but not as good at putting that information into context.” In other words, “They’re really good at technology, but not at how to take those skills and resolve specific business problems.”

Amen.

Mara Swan, executive vice president of global strategy and talent at Manpower Group, told Tugend that young workers have problems with collaboration, interpersonal skills, the ability to deal with ambiguity, flexibility and professionalism.

On the flip side, young workers think there older co-workers and superiors are technology dinosaurs, slow to adapt and resentful that they’re not willing to pay their dues like they did.

Conclusion

There’s truth to both sides of the argument. What our highest performing clients are doing are finding ways to bridge both the generation gap and technology gap by allowing their employees to make contributions on the terms they prefer via the communication tools they prefer. Regardless of where you are in your career or your hiring process, you need to understand what  makes your non-peers tick and help them get the most out of their talents.

Have a great 4^th.  HB

More tips can be found on the FREE Resources page of our website.

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Like It or Not, You Need to Be a Writer

8  steps to better brainstorming in 30 minutes

To build credibility, professionals like yourselves should publishing articles (or shooting short videos) regularly on hot-button topics that are near and dear to your clients. OK. Writing’s not easy for many of us, but if you can stay focused and brainstorm the right way for just 30 minutes, you’ll be well on your way to being published. We have an 8-step process here that can really help you unlock your “Inner Writer.” We’ll get to those in a minute.

Establish Credibility

Establishing credibility with your clients, prospects and potential business partners is the most effective form of marketing you can do. We’re not talking about tweeting, tagging photos or “Liking” something on Facebook. We’re talking about building the kind of credibility that actually pulls prospects to you and makes them want to work with you—and recommend you to others.

Go Fast

Most financial, legal, accounting and insurance professionals are very smart people. Not many are professional writers. While you might not think twice about posting to social media, a blog, an online discussion forum, or a newspaper website, writing for publication—especially for your peers—can appear daunting. Sure, you can hire a freelance writer to help you. But the fact is, writing for publication isn't as challenging as you might think.

*** Click here for our 8 Steps to Better Brainstorming

Macro ViewAs expected, the financial markets have taken investors on a needless roller coaster ride this week, so ignore it and look at the (mostly positive) long term economic indicators that affect your business the most. The Commerce Department announced this week that businesses increased their orders in May for long-term manufactured goods. And for the third straight month, a special index of business investment plans rose—it’s a gauge that excludes the highly volatile transportation and military contracts sector. Need more? The widely cited Case-Shiller housing index showed a 12.1 percent gain over this time a year ago.

ConclusionCongrats. You may not be a professional writer (yet), but you’re using your writing to enhance your profession. You’re not only being published with byline attribution, but you’re driving qualified traffic to your website and LinkedIn profile. People are commenting, sharing and citing what you have to say. You’re getting more invitations to write, speak and teach than you ever thought possible. And best of all, you’re getting qualified client leads and referrals from other professionals.

More tips can be found on our blog and the FREE Resources page of our website.

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Tags: Brainstorming, credibility, writing for legal financial accounting professionals, thought leadership 

Tablet Ownership Doubles and Why You Should Care

If you think everyone in your circle of influence is tapping on a tablet these days, you’re not alone. According to the Pew Research Center, more than one third (34%) of American adults now own a tablet device of some kind, almost double the 18 percent adoption rate at this time a year ago. The recent Pew report said tablet adoption spikes in the 35-44 age bracket and appears to rise alongside educational attainment and household income level. The most popular brands are iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Google Nexus and Kindle Fire. No surprises there.

What struck us most about the Pew report is that tablets, unlike smartphones, are still owned primarily by the high income/high education demographic that your clients fall into:

·         Those living in households earning at least $75,000 per year (56%), compared with lower income brackets

• Adults ages 35-44 (49%), compared with younger and older adults
• College graduates (49%), compared with adults with lower levels of education

Unlike smartphones, which are most popular with younger adults ages 18-34, the highest rates of tablet ownership is among adults in their late 30s and early 40s. In fact, almost half of adults ages 35-44 now own a tablet computer, significantly more than any other age group. There are no statistically significant differences in tablet ownership between men and women, or between members of different racial or ethnic groups. But, that 35-44 demo is going to be the heart of your target market in the next 5-10 years.

What this means for me?

First, while all the online gurus from inside and outside your organization are telling you make everything mobile friendly, you need to distinguish between all things mobile. What resonates on a 7-9 inch tablet screen can be vastly different than what works on a tiny smartphone screen. Also, remember that some of your younger web designers and marketing folks are not the same demographic as you and your clients. They’re more likely to be smartphone slingers than tablet tappers. Don’t let them push you into designing what’s best for them and their peers. You’re paying them to design what’s best for you and your client base.

Macro View

Expect the Fed to drive the nervous nellies (aka profit takers) on Wall Street crazy for a few more weeks. But the underlying economic indicators continue to point upward. Slowly and surely upward like the last stages of a high altitude mountain climb or bike race—but the key word is “up.”

Housing starts rose 6.8 percent in May according to the Commerce Department this week and builders applied for more permits to build single family homes that at any time in the past five years. Government data shows that new home construction has risen 28.6 percent since May of 2012, bolstering hopes of a full-fledged housing recovery. We’ve got plenty more data if you need it.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, your clients, prospects and stakeholders are migrating to an always connected mobile mindset. Just remember that the device they use for phone calls, emails, instant messages and snapshots is not necessarily the device they use to engage with your thought leadership content. If you’ve got something important and substantive to share with your target market, first consider which device they’re going to use to read/view/download it. Is it something that fits into their briefcase—or the back pocket of a tight pair of jeans?

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Tags: Housing starts, building permits, housing recovery, tablet ownership, iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Google Nexus, Kindle Fire

Salvaging an Unproductive Day

Let’s face it. Even hard-charging, Type-A, hyper-caffeinated people like ourselves get into a rut from time to time. Sure we’ve learned how to “mail it in” by looking busy, by sending out important sounding emails, by billing some hours and checking a few things off the to-do list. But sometimes, for a wide variety of reasons, that laser focus isn’t there.  The ideas aren’t flowing, the adrenaline isn’t pumping and you’re months away from your next vacation. What to do?

Productivity blogger, Aaron Lynn, recently posted on AsianEfficiency.com  nine common causes of unproductive days, including multi-tasking, playing to your weaknesses, constant interruptions and poor energy management. He offered both short-term and long-term fixes. But the main thing you don’t want to do is let a series of unproductive days spiral out of control. Lynn said you want to make sure that if you’re having a series of unproductive days you, want to understand why they occur and be able to get to the root of the problem. Thanks to Inc./Fast Company for bringing this to our attention.

As Lynn explains: “Sometimes, things happen that simply aren’t within our control — weather phenomena, our Internet connection goes down, a family emergency. We can try to put things in place to prevent these things from happening, but sometimes there really isn’t much we can do.”

Suppose the reason for your unproductive day is what Lynn calls “depleted willpower.” Short-term fixes include “waiting until tomorrow,” “break/nap,” and “nootropics,” which are basically legal drugs. More importantly, Lynne offers long-term fixes such as “energy management” (eating, sleeping, and exercising properly) and “downtime and renewal” (getting enough time off).

While little of what Lynne suggests is revolutionary, it’s helpful to remind ourselves that the reasons for having a bad day usually aren’t that complex. A short nap or a quick walk can go a long way toward making them bearable. But in the long term, you have to come to grips with the types of daily annoyance or client/employee irritations that consistently take you off your game and prevent you from doing your best.

Have we mastered those lessons here at HB? Heck no. But at least we’re able to recognize the signs of a potential “off day” by 10 or 11 in the morning and prevent it from ruining the rest of the day (or week).

As my old college track coach used to bark: “Anyone can run fast when they’re feeling great. I’m going to teach you how to run fast when you feel like crap. So when you’re ass falls off at the one-mile mark, go back and find your ass, stick it back on, and get back in the race.” What he was trying to say was that the team needed each and every runner to finish the race and try to score some points even if they weren’t going to set a personal best that day.
 

A little old school I know. But just try this philosophy for a week and you’ll be amazed at how many many boxes on your to-do list suddenly get checked off.

Index of Business/Entrepreneurship media up

Whether or not you believe all the noise coming out of Washington, one gauge of the economy that we like to use here is the total of advertising pages at business, technology and entrepreneurial magazines. By that lens, things are up 8.8 percent over this time a year ago, according to data we compiled from min/min online. The group we track includes Inc. Magazine (up 30.4%), Forbes (+13.3%), Fast Company  (+7.9%), Wired (+2.6%) and Entrepreneur (down 3.8%).

Macro View

Whether or not you like to play Bernanke roulette with interest rate forecasts, two government reports that came out yesterday shook some sense into the financial markets. Positive news about hiring and spending at retail businesses gave a badly needed jolt of optimism to investors about the strength of the economic recovery.

Conclusion

Like off days in investing, sports, relationships and the weather, bad days are inevitable at work. It’s not so much trying to avoid them or blame them on others—it’s how you bounce back from them, learn from them and understand what could be dragging you down into a continuous spiral of frustration, inertia or wheel spinning.

As heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson once quipped: “Everybody has a plan until you get a punch in the mouth.” You’ll never avoid every jab that’s thrown your way. But you can always get yourself off the mat and back into the fight before the game of life counts you out for that round.

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Tags: Aaron Lynne, productivity guru, salvaging a bad day,

Our FREE Resources page has more. 

Tablets displacing PCs and why you should care

A new study caught our eye this week and we wanted to share it with you. Researchers from IDC Worldwide predict that tablet shipments are expected to grow 58.7 percent this year to 229.3 million units. Why should you care about that number? Because tablet shipments are predicted to exceed those of portable PCs this year, as the slumping PC market will likely see negative growth for the second consecutive year. The IDC study also said that tablet shipments should outpace the ENTIRE PC market (portables and desktops combined) by 2015.

The tipping point is upon us. Click on these links for additional IDC information about Tablets, and about PCs. With tablets racing past portables in 2013 (and total PCs in 2015), there’s going to be a major change in how consumers and business professionals do what we like to call the 6 Cs:

·         Communicate

·         Compute

·         Connect

·         Collaborate, and

·         Create Content.

What this means for you is that your clients, prospects and stakeholders are increasingly mobile, impatient and distracted. They’re more likely than ever to be reading, downloading and watching what you have to say on a small screen device and away from their desks. You have less room to work with and less room for mistakes.

It also means your email subject lines have to be crisper. Your videos must be shorter and less intrusive. Every webinar must deliver exactly what you promise right from the first minute. Your newsletters must be on target every issue and your case studies, white papers and archived web events must be easier to download and highly relevant.

Special challenges for those in professional services

Most of you are well educated highly skilled professionals. You know how to be relevant. You have the subject matter expertise that so many other “posers” on the web don’t have. You know how to be thorough, accurate and comprehensive. The challenge is being brief when you have so much to share with your audience and when you’re dealing with complex topics, mountains of research, precedents and regulations.

That’s what we do all day long. Do we always get it right? Of course not. But we know an awful lot about how to do it wrong.  Our blog and FREE Resources share more.

Macro View

Today’s jobs report shows that U.S. employers added 175,000 new hires in May, slightly ahead of expectations. While skeptics say that unemployment remains historically high and the economic recovery has shown some signs of slowing, we’re still convinced that the underlying fundamentals remain strong for this economy--remember, we’re in a new normal era. Housing is recovering in most major metro areas and the Federal Reserve said yesterday that that the net worth of most American households is higher than before the recession hit five and a half years ago.

Any more dramatic drops in the financial markets will be a result of investors using the recent worries above as an excuse to take profits.

Conclusion

We’re at the inflection point of a Big Data world hitting a small screen environment. Every word and pixel counts. Respect how busy your target market is and choose your words carefully. Be fast. Be relevant and keep it real.  If you can do those simple things consistently, your clients and prospects will thank you time and time again with referrals and continued loyalty.

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Tags: IDC worldwide. Tablets outpace portable PCs, housing market, jobless rate

Don’t Fall Victim to Things That Stifle Innovation

With all the talk about the importance of innovation, you’d think we’d be better at it by now. Not so according to a recent Accenture study of more than 500 executives at British, French and U.S. corporations. Rather than offering “the next big thing,” researchers said that innovations coming to market today are more typically “line extensions.” Instead of the game changing products, services, and business models that were anticipated several years ago, many so-called innovations have become considerably more limited in scope. 

First the good news: Over 70 percent of respondents to the Accenture study ranked innovation among their top 5 priorities--with nearly one in five (18%) putting it at the head of their list. However, study authors found two dominant obstacles standing in the way of driving higher returns from innovation: Conservatism and the “invention trap.”

1.      Conservatism focuses on individual line extension renovation rather than developing a broader portfolio that also includes big, hairy audacious ideas.

2.      The “invention trap” is an overreliance on the invention process itself.

The problem here is that most organizations—large or small--lack systematic, enterprise-wide processes that can commercialize inventions into scalable products or services and bring them to market in a timely manner. 
Here’s what else disturbed us about the Accenture report:

·         Only 34 percent of respondents believe their company has a well-defined innovation strategy.

·         46 percent say they have become more risk averse in considering new ideas.

·         45 percent see their company pursuing a portfolio of smaller, safer opportunities rather than seeking the next breakthrough.

Busting through inertia

We recently interviewed Michelle Mason, managing director of ASQ for the Association Adviser enews. Michelle told us that if your organization has complex problems to solve, “look for employees with high levels of curiosity.” Eric Wulf, head of the International Car Wash Association told us he’s a “resource getter, not a management of people person” and Bob Hasmiller of the National Association of College Auxilliary Services told us he’s a big advocate of “Management by Walking Around (MBWA)” and hiring people who are insatiably curious and lifelong learners.
Here’s another shocker: Nearly all (93%) of the executives surveyed in the Accenture report regard their company’s long-term success to be dependent on its ability to innovate. At the same time, less than one in five (18%) believe their own innovation strategy is delivering a competitive advantage. Fewer than half the present-day respondents believe they have an effective approach to new product development or are seeking innovation effectively.

C’mon people we can do better than that.

Respondents cited specific challenges to innovation (we call ‘em excuses)

• Predicting future trends (30%)
• Achieving cost containment (27%)
• Securing ongoing budget support (26%)
• Leveraging new technology (26%)
• Transforming new ideas into marketable goods and services (24%)

Macro View

Tuesday, the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index posted the biggest gains in seven years as housing prices rose in every one of the 20 cities tracked.  Further, consumer confidence reached a five-year high in May according to a Conference Board report also released on Tuesday, with big improvements in Americans’ views about both the current economy and future economic conditions. It hasn’t hurt that employers have added jobs for 31 straight months.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, the only thing really stifling innovation at most organizations is fear or failure and lack of imagination. That’s why we pioneered the Art & Science of Strategic Stumbling™.

You can’t learn if you don’t fail from time to time. And that’s the main difference between visionaries who build great companies and products and executives who simply build careers. Who would you rather work for (or hire)?

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Tags: Accenture study of innovation Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index, the invention trap, management by walking around, lifelong learning, Strategic Stumbling