Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Repeat Success is No Small Achievement

Arnel Pineda never imagined that he would be fronting the world-famous rock band, Journey, when he began singing American rock songs with his friends' band as a teenager.



For years his exceptional singing talent had been good enough to belt out songs with club bands doing parties, special events, contests, weddings, and regular appearances around the Philippines, Pineda's home country. However, one evening Pineda was filmed doing his performance with a particular Journey song, "Don't Stop Believin'." The performance, as well as Pineda's accuracy in singing the song so similar to how the original version was sung by the first Journey frontman, Steve Perry, shocked people. It also shocked the guitarist and an original member of Journey, Neil Schon, when he watched the YouTube video as well. One would think that the fairytale story ended at this point as Pineda rocketed to fame as Journey's replacement singer. However, that's not quite how things went.



Upping Your Game



Yes, Pineda could sing, no argument. And he did a darn good version of Journey as a bar band singer. However, the band made it clear to Pineda that if he were to be considered a serious contender for the real band, he would have to up his game. That meant singing all the original Journey songs to perfection.



It's easy for the typical person to think this challenge might be doable. That's because no one sees what Pineda had to go through to match every tone and every inflection that Steve Perry had done to make Journey's songs famous in the first place. Unlike Perry, who could craft a new song with any version of voice he liked, Pineda had to duplicate the original to every single detail. It was a grueling process with Schon and company catching every mistake and pushing Pineda to reach the zenith of his ability. There were plenty of times Pineda wanted to quit as well, questioning his own talent. Fortunately, the Filipino singer realized his full potential and succeeded.



Success Can Be Hard to Repeat



This story is a classic case showing how hard it is to achieve success a second time once a standard or great performance has been achieved in the first place. In business, a one-time success is just that, a fortunate blip. When a business team can repeat the performance and do even better consistently, that's a huge achievement. It proves that the success was not just good luck or a brief opportunity when things just fell into place.



Repeat success is the primary goal every business team strives to achieve. And it is extremely hard. Conditions change, markets fluctuate, customers move to new interests, team members leave and get replaced. All of these factors and more change the mix in how successful a team can be. To overcome these changes and repeat the success is really the higher level of performance that pays big with rewards when it can be achieved.



Not Just for Entertainment



Think Pineda's story is just something that happens in the entertainment world? Look at Apple after Steve Jobs passed away. The Apple team lost a core resource in Jobs and still had to find a way to keep Apple growing and succeeding even more than what Jobs had achieved with the company. CEO Tim Cook and company did exactly that, but it was a huge challenge to fill Jobs' shoes year after year since his passing. In many ways, Cook had to perform just as hard a Pineda to repeat a success and make it better. So the next time you see a repeat success story, don't dismiss it so quickly. It's frequently much harder to succeed a second time versus the first.


Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Making Philanthropy the Family Business

If you ask the owners of many large, family-owned businesses what keeps everyone together, you may notice a trend: philanthropy. Helping others truly does run in the family, and multigenerational businesses are in a unique position to pass along not just the business perspective needed to be successful, but also how to have a positive impact on the community. Even if kids are too young to be involved in the family business, it's never too early to begin coaching children about why it is important to help those who are less fortunate. It's not just large organizations that benefit from giving back -- family businesses of all sizes find that philanthropy offers a way for all ages to come together around a common goal.



Teaching Financial Stewardship



While most parents strive to raise children that are strong and confident of their place in the world, the reality is that there will always be others who do not have the same opportunities for nutrition, good schools, and a loving family environment. It can be challenging for kids growing up in a family business environment to understand that not everyone has access to the same technology, toys and clothing -- and that being a good steward of finances means finding ways to contribute to the health and well-being of others. This often starts early with a percentage of allowance going to support those in need and can continue to grow throughout their life.



Legacy of Values



Passing a company down through multiple generations is a powerful legacy, and one that provides no small measure of pride when passed along. The values of hard work, thrift, and benevolence make for great leaders in the community and in the business -- and are a good way of maintaining strong ties with customers and employees. Even family members who are not a part of the daily running of the business are often able to get involved in a philanthropic effort in some way.



Deliberate Goals



Being deliberate about creating goals for your family business around giving is yet another way of enforcing the importance of strategy within the organization. When multigenerational leaders work together to solve challenging problems for the greater good, that hard work often spills over into daily life. A key to selecting a good philanthropic effort is that it's large enough to engage family members of all ages in some way. This allows you to tailor opportunities for service and giving to the specific preferences and strengths of an individual. For instance, some people are born to be fundraisers and are able to weave a compelling tale about the how monetary gifts will be utilized in a way that compels people to provide cash infusions. If others are more comfortable working behind the scenes, there is plenty to be done there as well.



Building family values, providing support to the community -- where's the downside? When you need printed materials for your next community project, contact us!


Friday, November 17, 2017

Boosting Customer Engagement with Fall-Themed Promotions

Fall is a beautiful time of year with cooler weather in some regions, and connotations of family in all parts of the country. Fall brings with it traditional themes of back to school, falling leaves, carving pumpkins, football, and fall holidays. One of the most popular traditions during the fall season is the range of pumpkin-flavored treats available. Using these themes, you can create campaigns to drive new customers and return business.



1. Giveaways and Contests



It is always fun to promote a coupon or giveaway with a fall flavor. These can include coupons to neighboring businesses for cross-promotion or sweepstakes for fall gifts. For B2B companies, it is best to keep these rewards under $10 because some industries have strict limits on what they can receive as gifts. Easy gifts are seasonal doughnuts, bags of coffee, pumpkin pie or other food specialties of the season. If you prefer to offer non-food rewards, small sports-related gifts make good selections. It is best to have rewards that appeal to most clients whether men or women and any age.



2. Seasonal Discounts



Offering seasonal discounts as companies ramp up for the year can drive business. These discounts should be offered in early August to allow for planning time. Giving customers bulk discounts for large orders is a good incentive for any product or service.



3. Educational Videos



Combine some video with your print promotions to encourage loyalty from your customers. Videos can truly be on any subject to help customers better understand what you do and how best to approach you for specific jobs. Humorous videos are an excellent way to help customers remember what they have learned. You can promote custom products and services that make your business unique and invite them for a free sample after viewing the video.



4. Fall Infographics



The football theme is a great one for fall infographics. You can lay out a play-by-play scenario for a custom service on a colorful direct mail infographic that will catch your customer's eye. Use it as a poster in your building, email it to your customer list, and hand it out with orders. Infographics are great for simplifying complex ideas with simple illustrations and graphic arrows.



These are just a few ideas to get promoting this fall. Remember, if you need help with your printing and marketing, give us a call today!


Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Healthy Employees Are Productive Employees: Why to Incentivize Health at Work

Productivity really is the secret to everything in terms of your business' success. Happier employees tend to be more productive, which is why it is essential that you focus on things like corporate culture and team-building exercises whenever the opportunity arises.



Many people don't realize, however, that this is only one small part of a much larger story. It isn't enough for your employees to be happy - healthy employees are also significantly more productive than those who are not, which is why if you're not already making health and wellness top priorities within your organization now would be an excellent time to start.



Healthy Employees and Productivity: Facts and Figures



According to a series of studies that were recently conducted on the subject, healthy employees may be a whole lot more valuable than you've even realized:




  • On average, employees who eat healthy foods (or who at least make an effort to do so) tend to be about 25% more productive than those who do not.




  • Employees that exercise for at least a half hour each week are an impressive 15% more likely to have higher job performance than those who do not.




  • Healthy employees also take fewer sick days, which is not surprising. The true revelation, however, is just how far this benefit goes: absenteeism is a massive 27% lower in employees who A) eat healthy, and B) exercise regularly.




  • The most important statistic of all is the fact that overweight and generally unhealthy employees cost employers in the United States an astounding $73.1 billion collectively per year, part of which has to do with the fact that they tend to file twice the number of workers' compensation claims than those who do not.



At this point, the answer to the question "how important are healthy employees?" becomes resoundingly clear: very, very important. But saying that you value your employee's health is one thing. Actually taking steps to show that this is true is something else entirely.



How to Value Health at Work



Luckily, valuing healthy employees is simply a matter of a series of small choices. You can begin by making sure that healthy snacks are available for employees in the office who may be "burning the midnight oil," for example. If you're one of the many workplaces around the country that has a vending machine on-site, consider restocking that vending machine with healthy snacks like fruits and vegetables instead of the traditional potato chips and sweets. People will absolutely start to eat them, especially if they don't really have an alternative.



You'll also want to consider emphasizing health in terms of things like employee benefits packages. Consider throwing in a free gym membership to a local fitness club that employees can take advantage of after they've worked with your organization for X number of weeks or months. It may not be something that everyone uses, but those who do will benefit greatly. You'll also benefit, too, as this is a clear sign that you actually care about the health and fitness of your employees - something that will make it easier to attract top talent in the future.



Also remember that according to one report by Quantum Workplace, employees tend to be 14% more engaged when they are provided some time off to "recharge their batteries," so to speak. So the next time you think it's a good idea to make people work incredibly long hours week after week, you may want to think again.


Friday, November 10, 2017

What Google's Mistakes Can Teach Us About Leadership

One of the things that Google is famous for is data-based decision making. When they want to find the most effective way to do something, they look at the numbers and work from there. However, even a company as married to analytics as Google is vulnerable to lapses and oversights. Recently, their data showed that their process for hiring and promoting the best managers for the job was all wrong.



When you look at where Google made their mistake and what they did to correct it, you could save your company some money and heartache and also create a more effective workplace.



Google's Error and Assumption



Besides a dedication to data, Google's other key characteristic is a high regard for technical expertise. Tech savviness was so prized that, historically, it was one of the top factors in whether someone would get promoted to management.



When Google set out to learn whether their hiring and promoting strategy was working, they discovered something interesting: the best managers were not necessarily the ones who were technical experts at all.



After gathering and analyzing data from 10,000 manager observations, they learned that the quality they valued most had almost no bearing on whether someone was a good manager. Instead, soft skills were what made all the difference.



What the Data Says Makes a Good Manager



Google used their large pool of data to identify eight qualities and habits that make great managers. While technical skill was on the list, it was the least important of all the qualities on it. In order of importance, the qualities that make great managers include:



  • Good coaching.

  • Empowering your team to work without micromanaging. A good manager hires good people, then gets out of their way.

  • Interest in employees' well-being and success. People are more motivated and show greater job satisfaction when they know that the people they work under care about them.

  • A results-oriented and productive outlook.

  • Excellent communication skills, especially good listening.

  • An interest in employees' career development. Good managers understand that we all do better when we all do better.

  • A clear vision and strategy.

  • Key technical skills. These aren't important because your manager will be doing hands-on work, by the way. They are important because it allows the manager to advise the team that they've assembled for the job.

In addition to the revelations above, Google discovered a lot about the types of managers who make employees happy. The most important quality is a calm demeanor and an even keel. In a high-stress environment, someone who keeps things steady is key. They also discovered that the best leaders puzzled through problems with employees instead of just telling them what to do.



By looking at the real data about good managers, Google was able to improve their hiring practices, improve worker satisfaction, and increase productivity.



The biggest takeaway? Always challenge your assumptions. You may learn that what you thought was effective may be harming your company more than it helps. By taking an honest look at your analytics, you can seize startling revelations. Use them to make your company a better place and to rise above the competition.


Friday, November 3, 2017

Ways to Protect Your Brand in the Real-Time Information Age

A brand is more than just a company logo, and it's bigger than any one particular product or service. Instead, it's the feeling that people get when they think about your company. It's what goes into the instinct they have regarding whether or not to make a purchase.



A brand is also massively important in terms of how successful your marketing efforts will be in the long-term. The impression someone has of your brand is something that occurs almost immediately. 48% of consumers say that they are more likely to become loyal to a brand if their first experience is a positive one, regardless of whether or not that experience actually took the form of a purchase.



That means your brand must be protected at all costs, particularly in the real-time information age that we're now living in. People are being marketed to from nearly every angle. If you don't work hard to strengthen and hone your brand, you run the risk of being lost in the shuffle. Hope is not lost, however, as there are a few key things you can do to protect your brand as much as you can.



Consistency is Key



One of the most important things you can do to protect your brand is focus on something that real-time information doesn't provide: consistency. According to one study, 90% of consumers expect that their experience with a brand will be similar across all channels - whether you're talking about print, in-person interactions, or digital content.



Don't Wait For Your Audience to Come to You



Another study estimates that, on average, you really need about five to seven positive brand impressions with a consumer before they start to remember your brand in a similar light. This is good, but you need to remember that in a real-time information age, you don't necessarily have the time to wait for a consumer to initiate those impressions.



Also, consider the fact that brands that are consistently presented are three to four times more likely to experience brand visibility. YOU must be reaching out to your audience by way of consistent, enjoyable and helpful experiences whenever and wherever you can. Increase the frequency of the print marketing collateral that you're putting out there and focus on being helpful, educational, and informative.



The Unmistakable Benefits



Give people as many opportunities to experience your brand as you possibly can and your entire identity will benefit as a result. If brand visibility is something of a numbers game, you need to play those numbers as well as you possibly can. Don't wait for someone else to hopefully do it for you.



Successful branding brings with it a wide range of different benefits, from increased customer loyalty to an improved image, to a relatable identity and beyond. But in an age where information is everywhere, your brand is something that you also need to work hard to proactively protect. If you don't, you run the risk of watching those important relationships with your audience begin to deteriorate.