Chief Strategy Officer, Issue 13

Issue 13 | theinnovationenterprise.com

change as “leading the new norm

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How can you be a leader who not only embraces, but leads positive change in your company? by mel ross

4

Corporate strategy in the 21st century How can you make your strategy futureproof? Falguni Desai finds out.

15 How is your IoT strategy defined?

Frank Burkitt tells us how he thinks IoT strategies should be set in stone.

letter from the editor Welcome to this issue of Chief Strategy Officer Magazine.

Are they only useful for large and established companies?

We are now well into 2015 and companies have refreshed their strategic endeavours for the new year.

How much is adaptability important in a strategy? Max Bowen finds out as we move into a more unpredictable and volatile business landscape.

Managing Editor George Hill

Assistant Editors Simon Barton

From increased digital activity to disrupting processes, we are seeing that more and more companies are looking at new ways to create opportunities within their businesses.

As the IoT continues to grow, Frank Burkitt also looks at how you can adapt your IoT strategy to take advantage of this growth area.

With this in mind, we have put together a magazine that looks at some of the most important issues currently effecting strategies.

As always, if you are interested in contributing or have any feedback on the magazine, please contact me at ghill@theiegroup.com.

Art Director Chelsea Carpenter

Contributors Falguni Desai Mel Ross Frank Burkitt

Mel Ross talks us through how adopting change management styles can have a significant effect on your business.

Falguni Desai brings us his second contribution to the magazine and asks how you can make your company future proof.

Lindsey Patterson gives us her insights into the relationship between PR firms and startups.

Max Bowen George Hill Managing Editor

Lindsey Patterson

Are you are looking to put your products in front of key decision makers?

General Enquiries

For Advertising contact Giles at ggb@theiegroup.com

ghill@theiegroup.com

2015

contents

11 LEADING CHANGE AS THE NEW NORM Mel Ross guides us through her thoughts on how to lead positive change in 2015.

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CORPORATE STRATEGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

SIX WAYS TO DEFINE YOUR INTERNET OF THINGS STRATEGY

How can you prepare your strategy for the 21st century? Falguni Desai gives us his opinion.

Frank Burkitt talks us through how your should be defining your IoT strategy.

27

22 THE IMPORTANCE OF ADAPTABILITY IN TODAY’S MARKETPLACE Max Bowen discusses why companies today need agility to succeed.

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WHAT STARTUPS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PR FIRMS Are PR firms only for large companies?

Not according to Lindsey Patterson.

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CORPORATE CORPORATE STRATEGY FOR 5

THE 21 THE 21

STRATEGY FOR ST ST companies “multinational have the global presence,

the assets, and the influence to solve societal issues and at the same time, pursue profits

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CENTURY

CENTURY by falguni desai managing director,

strategic planning, bdo

The internet has created a more connected world, where consumers and corporations can share ideas, whilst criticising and experimenting in real-time. The volume of data now available is overwhelming, but also presents an opportunity

to make smarter business decisions. Rising populations, scarcer resources and increased demand for goods puts pressure on companies to figure out how to balance a desire for growth with long term sustainability.

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CORPORATE STRATEGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Corporations are more global today, with presence in multiple countries, through ownership stakes, international supply chains and off-shored workforces.

This global approach brings advantages, as well as exposure to geopolitical risks.

Four forces are creating a new landscape and they provide an opportunity for strategists to redefine themselves.

the rise of big data

1

In large companies, Chief Data Officers will become a mainstay. These individuals will have the responsibility of merging large datasets and running algorithms using cutting edge technology. Companies will depend on their ability to make sense out of big data, so it’s key that analysis is being done inline with the company’s strategic goals. Yin Nawaday, who leads Sales Operations & Analytics at Las Vegas Sands Corporation, explained that ‘keeping a vigilant eye on process and strategic alignment’ is very important. Furthermore, she emphasizes that ‘if you can’t

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articulate what success looks like and measure it, don’t do it.’

It’s imperative that goals are articulated, metrics are defined and that outputs are user-friendly and acted upon. A collaborative relationship between strategy and data analytics needs to exist at all levels - at a minimum, strategists and data officers should be communicating regularly to make sure that analytics are aligned with strategic goals. In a truly symbIoTic relationship, the analytics feedback loop might reveal information that alters the strategic plan altogether.

Strategists need to be open to an analysis which might be incongruent with their original premise.

At mid-market firms, where data officers might not be designated, strategists may be the ones in charge of data analytics. This responsibility obliges them to learn how to blend different data sources, how to derive useful analytics, and how to communicate insights to decision-makers. Strategists in this situation need to have a basic understanding of technologies and best

CORPORATE STRATEGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

practices in data analytics.

While predictive analytics and Monte Carlo scenarios might be the norm for one industry, historical analysis and segmentation might be enough in another.

ease of crowd sourcing through social media

2

Strategists, at least those who want to incorporate the voice of the customer into their planning, typically rely on news, customer interviews, focus groups and other research products. These have been good methods to track emerging trends and signals. Knowing what customers like and need is a fundamental input in strategic planning, and while this information may not be difficult to find, it has at times been expensive to obtain, as research costs can run into the millions. More elusive, the ‘why’ behind certain customer likes and needs, is difficult to pinpoint.

This vital information can be tough to deduce from surveys and other standard research tools. Still, some companies have held onto these tools for fear that

online interactions will be rife with customer created content which will not resonate with the company’s stance, or worse yet, might spark a torrent of customer comments which spiral out of control. While such disasters can and have happened, one shouldn’t overreact.

More advanced social media tools are allowing companies to crowdsource ideas, almost in real-time.

Online, private communities, give companies the opportunity to gather new ideas from customers, test new products and build creative brand connections.

Large companies, such as American Airlines and P&G, to name only two, have embraced these tools. Chaordix is one such example, a crowdsourcing platform that allows companies to tap into customers, employees and other stakeholder groups.

Chaordix works with its clients to setup the right type of community and program, providing advice and best practice.

Chaordix’s CEO, Shelley Kupiers says, ‘With the access provided to key

7 consumers by a persistently global, social & mobile world, it’s natural that organizations are looking to better engage, better understand and better serve the people who directly impact their bottom lines. It’s nearly impossible to separate that kind of information from any phase of the corporate planning function. Of course, every organization is different.

Some have hardwired a participative, customercentric view into their decision-making processes, and others are taking more tentative early steps.’

Crowdsourcing has a very strong interplay with a company’s brand.

Participants that have a strong affiliation with a specific brand want to share, give feedback, and feel part of the process. These are the same people who will tell their friends about a product and share their opinion, good or bad.

Kuipers cites, ‘HTC is one of the more progressive global brands. It has created an ‘always on’ community of its most rabid fans, called elevate.

The elevate community members willingly operate chief strategy officer

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CORPORATE STRATEGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

as advocates for HTC outside the community because the company is honoring their effective co-ownership of the HTC brand by tapping them for ideas, insights and content.’

The ability to test, tweak and pilot new concepts quickly, inside an incubated setting, gives companies a safe sounding board and launchpad. The crowdsourcing platform can act not only as an innovation test field, but also a brand building tool which deepens loyalty and creates more meaning for customers who want to contribute to a company’s growth. Such programs can help strategists to expand innovation efforts beyond the incremental.

Crowdsourced innovation can lead to new business models and products, which may not have been in the R&D pipeline.

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sustainability taking center stage

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Multinational companies have the global presence, the assets and the influence to solve societal issues whilst at the same time, pursue profits.

Strategists sit in the middle, between current state and future state. They must ask questions, become change agents and catalyze initiatives which create solutions. Strategists need to help their business leaders realize that finding new ways to operate before faced with a crisis can give them a competitive edge and build their brand.

However, this is a difficult task as Eric Stryson, Managing Director at the Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT), based in Hong Kong notes, ‘Contrary to what some might suggest, big companies are not entrepreneurial. Internal politics are endemic and vested interests often resist or block new ideas. Most executives are concerned first and foremost with survival and then reaping their own personal rewards in bonuses and promotions.’

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CORPORATE STRATEGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

“without conducting country level analyses, global strategic plans can only offer a surface level view, which quickly becomes irrelevant outside of the home country

”

Scenario planning has become a valuable tool for strategists. Proactively mapping out scenarios with what-ifs such as what if key raw materials do not exist in the next 10 years, what if raw material commodity prices triple, what if consumers demand 50% discounts, what if consumer segments want different design or other similar scenarios can help businesses begin to think about potential issues in a concrete way.

Strategists can start to engage with other business leaders to discuss the probability of such scenarios, start designing solutions and communicating with senior management about how to stay a step ahead. Stryson explains how companies must shift their thinking, ’Companies fundamentally resist sustainability because inherent within the concept of sustainability is ‘Less’’.

Companies have been designed to do more, not less. The biggest change in strategic planning may be an acceptance of limits and thus planning for business success within limits.”

Consider the water stewardship initiatives that Coca Cola undertakes, or the proactive work of local sustainable fisheries.

There are now over 1,100 B-Corps internationally, companies that have passed B Labs’ assessment which measures their social and environmental impact. Those companies that tackle these issues before they become emergencies have an advantage over their peers.

Ultimately, these advantages come full circle in the form of stronger brand image, ability to enter developing markets more easily, innovative supply chains, and over the very long term, stronger share prices. It is the long game that can turn less into more and strategists and business leaders must be willing to play.

hyper globalization and geo-political uncertainty

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A heightened level of interconnectedness and more frequent political tensions will bring about more business disruptions than in past decades. Companies with a headquarters-driven single country strategic view

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CORPORATE STRATEGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

are operating with a very large blind spot. Without conducting country level analyses, global strategic plans can offer only a surface level view, which quickly becomes irrelevant outside of the home country.

While most would agree that a global analysis is required, many Fortune 500 companies still operate with a headquarters-only based strategy team. The result is a very blurry understanding of dynamics in other markets, which are often precisely those markets where more growth is expected.

To tackle the challenge, strategists who are responsible for global business plans must think about geo-political analysis in 2 dimensions. First, they must look at the major markets and countries where they are selling their goods and obtain pertinent information about regulations, price levels, service standards, talent levels and buyer preferences. Talking to salespeople based in those countries, conducting regular visits to offices and client sites, following news events, conversing with research analysts who are chief strategy officer

on the ground, are all good methods to keep a finger on the pulse. Having a strategy team member permanently based in the country is an ideal solution.

Second, strategists must think about the dependencies between countries in their supply chain. Which countries serve as the backbone of the entire business? Are there shared service centres in certain countries? In which countries is the product manufactured? Are raw materials coming from a single source country?

Mapping out the supply chain and then overlaying political hotspots can reveal weak links or exposures.

Strategists can then begin to devise alternate supplier options or new locations for service centers. While business continuity plans may account for shortterm disruptions, strategic planning can take a more proactive approach in decreasing overall exposure.

Strategists should refresh these analyses on a real-time basis as events unfold.

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leading change as the new norm

by mel ross strategy evangelist

“

this is because leading change as the new norm is about consistency, repeatability and something that is a normal consideration within the daily life of a leader.

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LEADING CHANGE AS THE NEW NORM

The rise of the CDO and Digital Leader has a place in the business world to transition us from managing single shifts to managing multiple shifts as part of daily life.

However, the urgency should be to widen the net, and start to build and support these skills and capabilities required to see, assess, act and thrive with change. This way we become businesses that have many adaptive leaders, not just one.

about the early infant development that requires external environmental influences (support, collaboration, nurturing etc) to ‘adapt’ to their world in order to develop the skills for their future path most appropriately.

For too long now leaders and managers have built and managed businesses through spreadsheets and numbers. Now businesses that succeed are being built and managed by a focus on engagement, loyalty and the presence of those leadership attributes described above.

The rate of technology change, Digital Disruption, changes in demographics, consumer demands changing etc.

“

things that should happen don’t and things that

”

don’t happen should.

This was a quote by Donald Winnicott who was talking

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I can start this article by listing out the reasons to explain both the need and urgency for business leaders and businesses to adapt to change and adopt the skills to manage change.

The fact that everything is changing is understood and agreed by most business leaders. What is not understood or outlined with enough clarity is that this change is both increasing in speed and velocity.

Therefore the urgency is not about change management being a single project where you can procure the services of an expert individual or organization to effect on your behalf – the urgency is that leading change as an attribute has become

arguably one of the most important attributes a business leader can have.

Equally, change management as a capability and delivery skill at management level is required to ensure that this change happens.

Leading change as the new norm is very different to leading change is the new norm. This is because leading change as the new norm is about consistency, repeatability and something that is a normal consideration within the daily life of a leader. Not something we do in isolation, when all the forces are in place and the consensus is that of a single, possibly large investment project that has been targeted by the business as a priority.

Leading change as the new norm is about understanding that those key forces that once required single change projects to adapt to the corresponding shift, as a result no longer work. Take technology as an example, or a key customer behaviour change, or a significant change in demographic, we’ve had all of them before and economies and industries have adopted

LEADING CHANGE AS THE NEW NORM

new ways of doing things to address them. Today we have a different paradigm, we have change happening in each of these areas, and more happening all the time, overlapping, influencing and disrupting. As business leaders, managers and businesses generally, if we do not have the ability to see these changes, have the ability to assess these changes and subsequently act upon these changes as we see fit, then the Darwinism effect comes into play – those that survive will be those that adapt to their environments, those that don’t will perish.

Is it scaremongering to say Adapt or Die? Is it spindoctor narrative that talks about the need to be a Digital Leader? I don’t think so. To the extent that I previously wrote about leadership in a digital age rather than the rise of a digital leader per se.

This shouldn’t be news to us – as far back as 2002 Ernest J. Wilson III published an article on Digital Leadership called, ‘Leadership In The Digital Age’. This stated that as we move from an industrial age to a knowledge

13 or networked/connected age ‘Leadership in the Digital Age needs new attitudes, new skills, and new knowledge’.

In many respects the honeymoon period is over.

The rise of the CDO and Digital Leader has a place in the business world to transition us from managing single shifts to managing multiple shifts as part of daily life, but the urgency is to widen the net, to start to build and support these skills and capabilities required to see, assess, act and thrive with change, so that we become businesses that have many adaptive leaders, not just one.

2015 is going to be a big year. Businesses that haven’t yet grasped the fundamentals of ‘digital business’ are already on the back foot. The building blocks of a digital business are having the infrastructure and understanding of social engagement, the ability to access and assess data, a move to more agile technology infrastructures and cloud services and of course, an effective exploitation of the mobile opportunity. Just to be aware of these is not enough chief strategy officer

14 anymore, these foundation blocks have to be in place to start to take advantage of the more subtle technologies available like gamification and augmented reality as well as the more disruptive and game changing technologies. Any business wanting to take advantage of these digital world elements need the foundation blocks in place to succeed. Surely that’s a huge hint to anybody wanting to build a digital strategy.

What does leading change as the new norm really mean?

What skills, capabilities and attributes are required?

Put simply, leading change as the new norm requires the ability to visualize and direct constant change and often affect multiple changes at once. Leading change requires the ability to address the human aspect as well as the business aspect. It is no longer enough to lead or manage by monitoring hard numbers, leaders now need to understand the importance of the human aspect more than ever before.

chief strategy officer

LEADING CHANGE AS THE NEW NORM

The human aspect of digital business can be thought of in three ways: Empowerment: the ability to try and test new things, to make decisions based upon the access of data and the understanding of parameters, an understanding of change as an enabler not an inhibitor.

Independence: the ability to self learn, and to grow independently.

Transparency: ensuring that access to data and the communication of intent is a business priority rather than a secondary consideration – letting people know becomes the primary consideration for a leader of change as the new norm, a leader in a digital world.

To ensure businesses are able to thrive in a digital world, a new breed of leader is urgently needed.

This needs to happen in two ways, existing leaders must not fear, shy away or ignore the need to do things differently to succeed in different times. New and upcoming leaders should

embrace the generation they belong to and adopt those positive open, social and change blasting attributes in their leadership ethos.

If you are a business leader or aspire to become one in today’s digital world you must ensure that supporting and nurturing the ability to lead and manage change as the new norm becomes your number 1 priority for personal development and the development of those leaders and managers around you. This coupled with the business basics mentioned earlier will equip any leader or leadership team with the key ingredients to thrive in this digital world.

these are the leaders and businesses that will succeed. it really is time to adapt or die !

#GlobalLeaders

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WAYS TO DEFINE YOUR INTERNET OF THINGS STRATEGY

SIX WAYS TO DEFINE YOUR INTERNET OF THINGS STRATEGY

By 2020, an estimated 50 billion devices around the globe will be connected to the Internet. Perhaps a third of them will be computers, smartphones, tablets, and TVs. The remaining two-thirds will be other kinds of 'things' like sensors, actuators, and newly invented intelligent devices that monitor, control, analyze, and optimize our world.

This seemingly sudden trend has been decades in the making, but is just now hitting a tipping point.

The arrival of the 'Internet of Things' (IoT) represents a transformative shift for the economy, similar to the introduction of the PC. The IoT also opens a range of new business opportunities for a variety of players. These opportunities tend to fall into three broad strategic categories, each reflecting a different type of enterprise:

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'Enablers'

A wealth of opportunities exist for each of the three Technology-oriented types of IoT strategy companies, such as Cisco, models; Enablers, Engagers, Google, HP, IBM, and Intel, and Enhancers. Entering that develop and implement the fray however, is an the underlying technology action that should not be undertaken lightly. The IoT market’s newness and 'Engagers' That design, create, integrate, heterogeneity will make it difficult to negotiate, even and deliver IoT services for those companies with the (like the Nest Learning strongest capabilities and Thermostat, Apple HomeKit, the clearest, most compelling Hue, Tagg, Moj.io, and value propositions.

Sensity) to customers If your company wants to stake a claim with the Internet of Things, you 'Enhancers' first need to develop a That devise their own valuedistinctive 'way to play' - a added services, on top of clear value proposition that the services provided by Engagers, that are unique to you can offer customers.

This should be consistent the Internet of Things (such as OnFarm and Progressive’s with your enterprise’s overall capabilities system; the Snapshot) things you do best when you go to market, aligned with most or all of the products and services you sell. With those elements in place, if you tread carefully and methodically, the time will be right. To develop a strategy for the IoT, you could proceed by addressing, in order:

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SIX WAYS TO DEFINE YOUR INTERNET OF THINGS STRATEGY

1

your own role in the IoT

Given your existing value proposition and capabilities, are you best suited to be an Enabler, Engager, or Enhancer?

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2

industries and markets

Assess how your business environment is being (or could be) transformed by the IoT. If you are an Engager or Enhancer, what endpoints, hubs, and services are already being sold in your market? How are they expected to combine?

What sense do you have of the demand for them?

The more IoT activity that already exists in your industry, as it does in healthcare, automotive, manufacturing, and homerelated sectors, the more rapidly you will have to move.

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customer or business mgmt

Because value in the IoT will be created through the transformation of customer experience, you need strong capabilities in experience design. Even if you are an Enabler, without direct customer contact, or even if opportunities for engagement appear limited in your industry, the IoT could eventually transform your business. What capabilities do you already have in this area, and which ones will you need to develop?

SIX WAYS TO DEFINE YOUR INTERNET OF THINGS STRATEGY

4

connected products & services

Assess your current lineup of offerings to determine which can be enhanced through IoT connectivity, and what new ones could be developed expressly for the IoT. For new launches and innovations, take into account how connectivity will be established, how your company will analyze and use the resulting data, and which other companies you might collaborate with - all set against the proposed revenue model and income stream.

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an enhanced connection

Most Engagers will deploy an initial wave of basic connected devices and services. Then they will build further services by using analytics to gain insights from the wealth of new data that the IoT provides them. As these deployments unfold, Engagers will look for ways to increase value.

This is where Enhancers will come in. What new business models might emerge?

Would you want to develop any of them, or do you want to partner with other companies that can help serve this need?

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your organization’s capabilities

Your company will need to distinguish itself in this space. What will you do that no other company does as well (or at all)?

What improvements and investments will you need to make? Where will the necessary time, money, and attention come from; what activities will you need to divest or downplay so their resources can move here?

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SIX WAYS TO DEFINE YOUR INTERNET OF THINGS STRATEGY

“

you probably already have innovation processes in place, but they may not be customercentric enough.

”

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You may also need to develop some ‘table stakes’ capabilities that all IoT companies must have. These include the ability to manage and analyze huge quantities of data, to integrate diverse portfolios of services, and to build business relationships with other IoT-related companies, some of which may have very different cultures. You probably already have innovation processes in place, but they may not be customercentric enough. You may also need to foster more opportunities for people in your company to experiment and learn rapidly about what works and what doesn’t.

As new and challenging as today’s IoT is, it offers a large and wide-open playing field.

The companies that gain the right to win in this sphere will be those that understand just how disruptive the IoT will be, and who create a value proposition to take advantage of the opportunities.

#DigitalNY

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“SHARING COMPANY” - REVOLUTIONIZING B2B

the impo

adapt in today’s

by max bowen organizer chief strategy officer summit chief strategy officer

23

ortance of “

the drive for superiority

tability

marketplace The barriers to entry which once helped more established companies remain dominant over their small, up and upcoming rivals, have been lowered considerably in the last couple of

will require a change in organizational decision making that puts emphasis on

agility, rather

�

than rigidity

years. Advancements in technology have made it far easier for someone to come up with an innovative idea in their basement, with feasiblity to be made into something tangible relatively quickly. chief strategy officer

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THE IMPORTANCE OF ADAPTABILITY IN TODAY’S MARKETPLACE

A good example of this is ‘Johnny Cupcakes’, an American clothing brand which was started by Johnny Earle on less than $7,000.

The brand now turns over nearly $4 million annually, demonstrating that it doesn’t take a lot of money to get a potentially million dollar project started. What it comes down to is the entrepreneur’s talent and drive to make their business a success - and as Richard Branson states, ‘If you aren’t good at motivating yourself, you probably won’t get very far in business – especially as an entrepreneur.’

The startup scene’s thriving at the moment, so it would be logical to assume that today’s market is more rewarding than it’s ever been. The rise in competition however hasn’t meant that there are now more winners, quite the opposite, the margins are smaller than they’ve ever been and getting to a stage where you’re profitable has become even more challenging.

Market Leadership isn’t the title that it once was either, the Harvard Business Review calculated that the likelihood of the market share leader being the profitability leader chief strategy officer

has decreased from 34% in 1950 to 7% in 2014.

The marketplace is such that companies can even find it difficult to identify who they’re competing with and even what industry their company fits into.

Everything has become more uncertain, which increases the level of anxiety within the ranks of senior management. Research conducted by Entrepreneur Weekly identified that by year four over 50% of all mining, wholesale, services, agriculture and finance startups fail. When all the industries were taken into account, 71% of startups fail by year 10, with overly rapid expansion and lack of planning identified as two of the main reasons for this.

This research demonstrates that companies, when early on in their development, make knee-jerk decisions when they’re faced with times of market change.

The same question resurfaces all the time - how do you plan for a business environment that’s changing all the time? Unfortunately, organizational strategy must be revisited time and time again, with one overarching

THE IMPORTANCE OF ADAPTABILITY IN TODAY’S MARKETPLACE

strategy that lasts for five years never likely to work, as innovative ideas become redundant in much shorter timeframes.

This means that organizations must look at their ability to plan and use it as a way of keeping up to date with organizational trends. If this is done successfully, a company will be able to read and act upon marketplace signals that are going to affect its business model. Technology will of course play a massive role in this, with data used to show real-time trends.

Senior Management have never been under more strain than they are in today’s economic climate.

The drive for superiority will require a change in organizational decision making that puts emphasis on agility, rather than rigidity. For established companies, market share no longer suffices, it’s now of paramount importance that they try and match the innovative outputs of startups.

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their time in their own entrepreneurial endeavours and will increasingly become the cornerstone for successful companies who want to compete over a long period of time.

The ability to be malleable is essential in a business environment that actively encourages people to invest chief strategy officer

#CSOLDN

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what startups should know about pr firms

by lindsey patterson social media advisor

28 Taking advantage of the marketing tools and promotional services that only a professional PR firm is able to offer can do more than simply allow businesses to attract the attention of a greater number of customers and clients.

Building brand awareness and implementing a PR campaign in line with plans for future growth and expansion benefits several aspects of business operations that often go unnoticed. From social media marketing and SEO efforts, PR firms and marketing professionals are good at earning natural back links.

WHAT STARTUPS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PR FIRMS

Improving brand image and recognition benefits recruiting Building a better business can be all but impossible for companies and organizations that are unable to attract the quality professionals needed to create a superior workforce.

PR firms can help businesses create and maintain the right corporate image.

In other words, brainstorming, launching, promoting and improving branding campaigns is often too much to handle for a startup. Even if the startup has the money, hiring people with expertise is a hassle in itself, and then managing them is another. Often, the time saved is worth the cost of outsourcing to a PR firm alone. Let alone when the campaigns contribute ultimately to the bottom line.

An example is Glasses. com’s recent #getglassesref campaign. A marketing and PR company (who must remain undisclosed) spearheaded and executed the entire campaign from start to finish. The campaign doesn’t directly tie into their

chief strategy officer

WHAT STARTUPS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PR FIRMS

“

if glasses.com had done the campaign in-house it would have been more expensive and probably less effective. unless you have a long term game plan to build and develop an internal marketing team, outsourcing to an agency is more cost

”

effective.

product or service, but the landing page for the campaign internally links to their Oakley Sunglasses page. This way Glasses.com didn’t have to spend time or energy on the campaign, allowing them to focus on their product and website.

The PR company, because of the internal link, can increase brand awareness which is very hard to measure, but also track traffic with the internal links allowing them to gauge the value of the campaign even closer.

If glasses.com had done the campaign in-house it would have been more expensive and probably less effective. Unless you have a long term game plan to build and develop an internal marketing team, outsourcing to an agency is more cost effective.

Effective promotional efforts boost moral with existing staff No one wants to be part of a losing team and poor morale may find even the most dedicated employees unable to achieve their full potential. The same marketing efforts needed to establish a successful image

29 and to create new business opportunities can often benefit workplace morale.

Just like large corporations, a startup’s image matters, and ensuring that employees are proud to be working for a company that can provide them with a brighter and more successful future can improve retention and help to ensure that businesses are able to make the most of their existing staff and talent.

In other words, fake it till you make it. PR companies are really good at faking it.

Acquisition of new customers and the creation of new business opportunities Attempting to implement any development plan or growth strategy without being able to acquire the robust customer and client base needed to support future enterprises is an effort that is almost always doomed from the start.

PR firms play a key role in any expansion effort. From new startups to established businesses seeking to venture into new markets,

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30 being able to attract the customers, clients and business opportunities that are essential for future growth is one concern that businesses cannot afford to leave to chance.

A lot of the time PR firms are going to want to work with a clients article. Most small businesses will tag team content letting the PR firm do the heavy lifting and the client filling in the gaps.

Public relations and marketing services can influence future growth Marketing professionals and firms who can adjust their efforts to benefit the needs of a growing business are an invaluable resource.

Expanding too quickly or lacking the media attention needed to fully capitalize on past growth can result in a business development effort that is less than successful.

PR firms that can provide assistance and quality marketing during every step of the process can help to ensure that they are communicating with potential customers effectively.

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WHAT STARTUPS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PR FIRMS

The primary tool PR companies are going to leverage is your social media.

Superior services produce superior results Lacking the right image or failing to attract new business opportunities or maintain existing customer relationships can be disastrous. PR firms that offer the latest tools and online resources are a critical resource for businesses seeking to improve brand recognition, attract and maintain the best staff or expand their operation in order to enjoy greater profitability. Working with the right marketing firm or public relations service provides businesses with access to the full range of services and solutions that may be needed in order to ensure greater success.

Simply having a vision of success is often not enough to achieve it. The superior marketing and promotional services that only the best PR firms can be an essential resource for businesses seeking to remain competitive and successful in today’s marketplace.

#WomenInStrategy

Women in Strategy Summit March

19—20

Disco unt C ode WIS2 0 Save 20% Ends Marc h2

New York, 2015

Emma Pawlowski +1 (415) 670 9814 epawlowski@theiegroup.com http://theinnovationenterprise.com/summits/ women-strategy-ny-2015

ie.

Email dwatts@theiegroup.com for more information