In defence of complete honesty

In defence of complete honesty

For many small business people, particularly those running a brand new start up, the question of how much information you should share with your employees and you customers is a very pertinent one. While, undoubtedly, people prefer to work for a company and buy from a company that seems to be successful, confident and on the way up, pretending to be successful when you are not can sometimes feel inauthentic. And yet, there are very few business that can afford complete transparency.

Is there a way to run a successful company with complete honesty? Here are a couple of key issues to think about.

The question of strength and weakness

We all know that it is good marketing to be up front and vocal about what your company is doing well, but what about the other stuff? Is it OK to be up front about things that your business has done badly and areas in which it has failed?

While some would argue that no business should ever highlight its weaknesses, either to employees or customers (after all, there'll be plenty of other people to do this for you), showing some humility and discussing openly the improvements you want to make gives your business more humanity. Just ensure you always couch it in positive language.

Be honest but stay on brand

The question of branding is now as important for a small start up with four employees as it is for a multinational corporation. Customers in all market sectors want a company to which they can connect and identify, even for the smallest of purchases.

So, when designing and implementing a branding strategy, ensure that it is one which is honest and in line with the real company that you run. Do not try to claim your business is something it isn't. Staying on brand if a brand is totally honest is not such a hard proposition.

Hire employees that fit with the real company

If you wish to run a more open and honest work environment, then you will have to trust your employees to be honest too. Ensure that the people you hire are happy to be part of such a business and have faith in the company culture that you want to create.

This might mean hiring based on attitude as opposed to skill. That might seem counterintuitive for a small business looking to get ahead, but oftentimes it is the mindset of the company that sees it really make a mark.

Get Motivated Inspirational Quotes

Get motivated! Inspirational quotes

Getting motivated in business is not always easy. It doesn't matter how many qualifications you have on your CV, how much experience you have or how high the figure on your payslip is. If you want to stay successful, you have to stay motivated. Here is a list of quotes from successful people to get you in the right frame of mind for consistent achievement.

Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.

Winston Churchill

Don't let your ego get too close to your position, so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn't go with it.

Colin Powell

You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Steve Jobs

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.

Mark Twain

If you listen to your fears, you will die never knowing what a great person you might have been.

Robert H. Schuller

Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.

Thomas Edison

Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money.

Walt Disney

A cardinal principle of Total Quality escapes too many managers: you cannot continuously improve interdependent systems and processes until you progressively perfect interdependent, interpersonal relationships.

Stephen Covey

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.

Swami Vivekananda

If you work just for money, you'll never make it, but if you love what you're doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.

Ray Kroc

Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets.

Henry Ford

The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.

Vidal Sassoon

Rupert Murdoch quotes

Rupert Murdoch quotes

Rupert Murdoch is one of global business' most divisive figures. The Australian-American magnate inherited the News Limited business in 1952 and turned it into what is now known as News Corporation, the world's second largest media conglomerate. With television stations, publishing houses and newspapers in the UK, Australia, the USA and Papua New Guinea, it is an extraordinarily powerful enterprise that came from humble beginnings. Along with his exorbitant wealth, Murdoch has garnered plenty of criticism and controversy over the years, yet he remains one of the most skilful strategists and canny investors in world business. That makes these quotes from him essential reading for any business person with big ambitions.

In motivating people, you've got to engage their minds and their hearts. I motivate people, I hope, by example - and perhaps by excitement, by having productive ideas to make others feel involved.

Money is not the motivating force. It's nice to have money, but I don't live high. What I enjoy is running the business.

I try to keep in touch with the details... I also look at the product daily. That doesn't mean you interfere, but it's important occasionally to show the ability to be involved. It shows you understand what's happening.

I think a newspaper should be provocative, stir 'em up, but you can't do that on television. It's just not on.

Bury your mistakes.

Advances in the technology of telecommunications have proved an unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere.

As an immigrant, I chose to live in America because it is one of the freest and most vibrant nations in the world. And as an immigrant, I feel an obligation to speak up for immigration policies that will keep America the most economically robust, creative and freedom-loving nation in the world.

Somebody talked me into writing an autobiography about six or seven years ago. And I said I'd try. We talked into a tape recorder, and after a couple of months, I said, To hell with it. I was so depressed. It was like saying, 'This is the end.' I was more interested in what the hell was coming the next day or the next week.

News Corp is a global diversified media and information services company focused on creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content to consumers and businesses throughout the world. The company comprises businesses across a range of media, including: news and information services, book publishing, digital real estate services, cable network programming in Australia and pay-TV distribution in Australia.

Is pop-up marketing useful for your business?

Is pop-up marketing useful for your business?

Pop-up marketing has nothing to do with those ads that jump up on your screen when you click on website that you can't close fast enough. Rather, it is a grass roots way to connect with your target market that is low-risk, high-impact and, comparatively, low-cost. It is also becoming increasingly popular and any smart business person should be, at least, considering its potential for their product.

A good example of a successful pop-up shop is the one recently run by broadband provider TalkTalk. Its campaign involved setting up a pop-up store in London, staffed by none other than David Dickinson, celebrity antiques dealer. This kind of quirky, memorable, real-life connection with a product that had, up until now, appeared to entirely exist online, has a real, long-lasting effect on the customer. It puts a friendly face on a previously faceless company in a way TV and web advertising cannot.

If you are working in a competitive industry, this kind of campaign will really make you stand out from the crowd. This is not just good advice for the new kids on the block, looking to make its name in a crowded marketplace full of better known competitors, but also for the established brand with a firm following of loyal customers.

Pop-up stores give those who have no experience of your products a chance to engage with them in a manner that is unique, quick and fun. They also allow you to introduce a new service in a way that underlines its importance – by dedicating a pop up store to your latest product, it creates an image in the customers mind that this is a major announcement and a big-time release.

The last few years has seen some truly impressive, imaginative and clever pop up stores all around the world. For example, coffee company Illy placed a store inside a huge crate that opened up on the pavement to reveal a fully furnished living room, while upmarket chocolate makers Godiva celebrated last Valentine's Day by popping up a boutique on New York's 5th Avenue.

A sign of how pervasive pop up marketing is becoming is that New York subway stations are now offering leases for companies that want to set up a short term store to catch commuter traffic.

In 2017, pop up stores may well be the biggest thing in branding.