Archive for February, 2012

Crowd sourcing for Business

Looking for ideas to run a business?  Scouring for a brand name?  Want to design a logo or compose a jingle for your venture and don’t have the money or the expertise to do so?

Well most small businesses suffer from these deficiencies and crowd sourcing might just be the way out.  Here’s how you can make it work for you…

Brand Names, Logos and Slogans

Looking for a brand name?  Can’t afford a brand consultant?  The good news is that contrary to common belief you don’t really need one.  Here’s an example, The Hijab Design Studio, a Pune based business was looking for a brand name.

Mifrah Abid and Anisa Khan the dynamic duo behind the venture decided to float a contest and tap crowd power all at once.  A Facebook brand name contest saw entries pouring in from everywhere, family, friends and relatives.  People came up with names supplemented by meanings if the name was an Arabic or Urdu name.

Once they got several entries they shortlisted about 3-4 and got people to vote. Getting people to vote was another way of keeping them involved in this collaborative branding effort. 

Witty Shit, another innovative venture uses crowd sourcing to come up with interesting one liners that companies can use if they find them in tune with their requirements.  Ordinary people can participate in creation of slogans and companies get access to a pool of ideas for a fraction of what they would have paid an ad agency to do for them.

Crowd sourcing to create a logo by floating a logo design contest is definitely worth trying.  I was inspired by MindTree Consulting’s logo which was developed by differently abled kids and I feel most businesses fail to explore the creative potential of groups of people around.  Crowd sourcing is the way to do so!

Product Development

If Lays can get people involved in creating a flavor for its chips then there is no reason why you cannot involve people in product design and development.

A customer nowadays doesn’t want a T-shirt, he wants “his” T-shirt.  As busying preferences and customer choices veer towards personalization floating a contest to encouraging customers to create their own product might be a good idea.

Here’s an example, Green the Gap Collective launched a Design Your Own Bag Contest which they publicized on Facebook, encouraging customers to submit their own designs of “green” bags.

The result?  Some mind blowing designs that were functional and high on the recycling quotient.

Advertising

Hero Motocorp’s recent advertising campaign that features real people humming the Hero tune is an example that comes to mind when I think of how crowd sourcing is changing the way companies are advertising their products and services.

Campaigns that talk about or feature real people and their experiences always strike a chord with audiences.  So if you thought you cannot afford to pay a model to feature in your advertisement then the good news is you don’t need to!  Use people power to create a magical ad campaign that evinces interest and engages people.

What are you waiting for unleash crowd power to kick start your small business.  Get in touch with me to help you connect with creative folks who can brand, design and fuel your business with fresh ideas and talent.  Coming soon…Fresh Talent my own venture to connect businesses with fresh talent in every field!

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1539

This is a guest post by Lisa.

Running a small business is no easy task. There are the logistics of human resources, inventory management, marketing and payroll to be taken care of. There is the challenge of differentiating your products and services from the competition. These deterrents have not been too great to keep millions of Americans from pursuing small business careers. If you’re one of the brave ones who are going at it alone or with a relatively small workforce, here a few tips to make sure your business thrives.

Differentiation

If you’re serious about your small business, you need to figure out what your unique value proposition is. This is a marketing term that refers to what it is that your company specializes in. Think about two burger joints on opposite street corners. They make the exact same product, using the exact same ingredients but Bill’s Burgers has a much friendlier staff than Bob’s Burgers. Bill’s Burgers’ unique value proposition would be customer service in this case. It’s the reason customers should choose Bill’s over Bob’s. Find out what you and your staff are capable of or what is special about your product and then tell people about it. That’s tied in with the next point.

Social Media

There is no better free tool for businesses in the 21^st Century than social media. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Tumblr have given companies unprecedented access to their customers and this is a great way to communicate your unique value proposition to customers and potential customers. Get involved with your customers. If you find an interesting article online, post it on your social media channels, whether it relates to your industry or not. Offer specials and promotions through your social media channels to keep people interested.

Goals

Set long-term and short-term goals for the business. If you provide your staff with measurable, achievable goals, they will be much more likely to succeed. Giving them a goal to work towards, for instance, a 5 percent increase in sales, is a great way to motivate them. You can set short-term goals each month and long-term goals each quarter. Not only does this make for a more motivated staff, it allows you to track which areas are performing well, and which need to be reexamined.

Running a small business with highly unique products is not easy, but when you figure out how to take advantage of your size and uniqueness, you will be on the road to success.

Lisa is a guest writer who blogs about the latest tech devices, small business technologies and ways to get deals using HP coupons.

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1970

This is a Guest Post by Jemima Lopez

Although the percentage of female higher-ups has slowly grown over time, women in professional positions of power are still hard to come by. Fortunately, many women are choosing to start their own companies or are defying the odds by beating out male candidates for some of the most sought-after positions in business. What these women already know, and what many professionals of all genders will come to learn, is that female higher-ups not only have just as much to offer as their male counterparts, they also have special qualities that set them apart in the workplace.

1. Cooperative Communication

Communication is probably one of the most stereotypically “feminine” skill sets, but we all know that there are plenty of men who are excellent communicators. However, psychologically speaking, women in Western cultures tend to be brought up to cooperate and communicate more than men. The tendency to feel comfortable working in a group and facilitating collaboration is a trait that could possibly come more naturally to a woman than a man, and any great female CEO will more than likely possess this ability, and then some.

2. Intuition

It’s probably safe to say that anyone who has become a successful CEO has excellent intuition. A great CEO must be able to foresee trends in the market, know who to hire and when, and be able to sense the dynamics between employees within the company. So any good CEO will likely have this quality, whether male or female. But, the term “female intuition” doesn’t come from nowhere. Women often function socially by paying subconscious attention to inadvertent cues, and understanding what is going on beneath the surface is most definitely a female trait. As naturally intuitive as any male CEO may be, you could probably make the argument that a female CEO has the potential to be more intuitive.

3. Ability to Spot a Fake

Many women are not only adept at spotting a knock-off handbag from a mile away, they are also great at telling whether someone (especially another woman) is the real deal or a phony. Look at most male-female partnerships, and oftentimes the female is the partner with the final say about who should be trusted within a social circle. And, the ability to tell whether or not a client or business associate is being genuine is one of the most important skills in business. Any CEO will have risen to that position by honing their ability to tell a bad egg from a good one, and no one is better at that than the females.

4. Understanding of a Minority Perspective

Because most cultures around the world are male-dominated, all women have one thing in common: they are the only majority population in the world that is consistently treated as a minority. What men, regardless of race, religion, or geographical location, do not have to do is struggle for equal rights based on their sex. Women, on the other hand, have a built-in understanding of what it is like to fight for dignity and respect, even if the fight is subtle. Having a CEO who knows what it’s like to be a minority will only enhance a company’s ability to navigate more markets and create products and services that are not boxed in by tailoring to a majority population.

By-line:

Jemima Lopez is a freelance blogger and writer who writes for Zen College Life, the directory of higher education, distance learning, and best online schools. She welcomes your comments at her email: lopezjemima562 @ gmail.com.

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=3062