BeTuitive: Company newsletters

Blockbuster Teams

Posted on December 06, 2007 by Kathryn Regina.

According to the book Blockbusters, it’s a company’s innovative product—not it’s price point, customer service or depreciation schedule—that creates value for customers. To discover the key practices required for developing “blockbuster” products, authors Gary S. Lynn, Ph.D. and Richard R. Reilly, Ph.D., conducted a two year study of “blockbuster” product development teams. Here’s what we thought of their findings:

Kathy:

Out of the five “best practices” for new product development, I thought the most interesting one was that successful teams always have senior management that is “intimately involved” with the project. This seems to run contrary to most management situations. It also raises the question as to how these managers have time to be both teammates and management. Nevertheless, the authors insist that “coming up with the ‘big idea’ is only the beginning,” and that when management merely pops in once in a while to check in on things it’s not only unhelpful, it often results in “hit and run” accidents. The authors observed that in successful teams, senior management played one of three roles: project leader, technical guru or coach.

Jeff:

The authors’ observation that successful teams were “not especially concerned about building friendships or even insisting that everyone like each other,” adds a harsh robotic-like element to what is otherwise a set of reasonable best practices. However, upon closer examination it seems like what the authors really observed from the successful teams was that friendships aren’t all that’s needed for a strong team, and that strong teams can exist even if not everyone gets along. That’s a lot different than saying that in order to be successful you have to be unconcerned about building friendships. Because that just sounds creepy, to be honest.

Kevin:

Keep it open. Keep it clear. Keep it consistent. That seems to be the lesson from the book summary, “Blockbusters,” which identifies the five necessary steps to lead a product development team. When I say keep it open, I mean lines of communication, ideas and focus must be open to all possibilities. It never serves people well to be forced down one unwavering path. It is important to be clear about what your product is, what the competition provides, who your audience is and who your competitors are. A clear idea of this allows the unique and alluring elements of your product strategy to flourish. Lastly, maintaining consistent communication and problem-solving techniques between developers, managers and decision makers discourages the occurrence of mistakes, unfavorable relationships and unwanted surprises.

Joanna:

By reading specific accounts of real-life company sagas, it becomes clear that Lynn and Reilly's "5 keys to developing great new products" are vital steps to becoming successful. The summary highlights Iomega's trip to success and teaches the reader that all 5 rules (Commitment of Senior Management, Clear and Stable Vision, Improvisation, Information Exchange, and Collaboration Under Pressure) are not simply step-by-step suggestions. Rather, all 5 must be used tgether from start to finish in a balanced collaberation between all departments of the company.

December 6, 2007 in award winning design, award winning magazine, award winning newsletter, Blogs, build credibility, business credibility, Business editorial, business magazine, Business Marketing, Business newsletter, Business publications, company magazine, company newsletter, Company newsletters, Company publication, corporate magazine, Corporate newsletter, Corporate publications | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

The BI Marriage: Accuracy with Strategy

Posted on October 17, 2007 by Kevin G.

I was reading a great article today about setting up a solid BI system for mid-to-large sized companies.

Garry Garis, author of the article notes, “You do not get a second chance to be wrong and these companies know that their credibility is vital to sustaining customer relationships and ultimately, profitability.”The foundations of a BI system must be solid if anything is able to be built upon it. The accuracy of information is key.

Being able to effectively leverage information to make better business decisions is a powerful strategy if done correctly. Knowing where you get your information, how it is processed and to who it should go to is only half of the battle. Garis offers some key points on how to ensure you have a solid strategy with your accurate information.

October 17, 2007 in Brand enhancement, build credibility, Building B2B Relationships, Building Customer Community, Building Customer Intuition, business credibility, Business editorial, business magazine, Business Marketing, Business newsletter, Business publications, Business relationships, company newsletter, company newsletter sample, Company newsletters, Company publication, Corporate Blogging, corporate magazine, Corporate newsletter, Corporate publications | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Lego: Building Online Marketing

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Kevin G.

Lego, one of the toy companies that doesn’t have to worry about lead paint, has begun a new e-mail campaign with ESP (email service provider) Responsys. The B2C campaign is geared towards generating transactions and keeping buyers updated on new products.
The emails are segmented by geography and purchasing power. Lego has recently been bulking up its internet presence with expansion in the U.K.
Lego Home Page

September 12, 2007 in Brand enhancement, build credibility, Building B2B Relationships, Building Customer Community, Building Customer Intuition, bulk email marketing, Business Marketing, Business relationships, Company newsletters, create a newsletter, create email newsletter, create newsletter, creating company newsletter, creating newsletter, Customer Intuition, customer magazine, customer retention, E-Marketing, e-newsletter, e-zine, electronic magazine, electronic newsletter | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Submit Submit Submit

Posted on August 20, 2007 by Kevin G.

A news source that I often link to, DMNews, is in the final stages of accepting submissions for an Email Marketing Guide. If you have the chance, I would recommend taking a look at their site and see if there is anything you could submit.

August 20, 2007 in award winning blog, award winning design, award winning magazine, award winning newsletter, Award winning publications, Brand enhancement, Building B2B Relationships, Building Customer Community, Building Customer Intuition, Business editorial, business magazine, Business Marketing, Business newsletter, Business publications, Business relationships, company blog, company magazine, company newsletter, company newsletter sample, Company newsletters, Company publication, Corporate Blogging | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Words Glorious Words

Posted on March 07, 2007 by Kevin G.

I think it’s always great to be precise with wording. Though I don’t consider myself a wordsmith, I try to: bestow the lexicon of my colloquies with consummate exactitude. But even statements like that don’t phase vocabulary-prodigies like Robert Marshland.

He is the winner of the National Vocabulary Championship, hosted at the New York Public Library. Here, the contestants must have a clear understanding of uncommon words and their differences; like the difference between what is simply underrated from a clear example of floccinaucinihilipilification (the estimation of something worthless). This competition is intense for contestants to not only know a plethora of words that are not commonly used in social discourse, but to react quickly with their answers to proceed to the higher rounds.

The winner, 18-year-old Marshland from Wisconsin, was awarded $40,000 towards college tuition and the title of “Most Challenging Person to Play Scrabble Against.” Read further about the competition and Robert’s road to success.

March 7, 2007 in award winning newsletter, Blog Outsourcing, Blogs, Building B2B Relationships, Building Customer Community, Building Customer Intuition, Business Marketing, Business publications, CMO, company blog, company newsletter, Company newsletters, Company publication, Corporate newsletter | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Grass-rooted Publishing...by Tree

Posted on March 05, 2007 by Vinnie Lacey.

Glancing through the Chicago Tribune on my morning commute, I read a fascinating article about the tumultuous Darfur region in Sudan. Instead of the typical stories of genocide and rape, the article focused on a young woman from El Fasher (the capital of the North Darfur state) named Awatif Ahmed Isshag. Isshag began a handwritten monthly newsletter covering local events, arts and religion nearly 10 years ago, and found a colorful way to distribute her articles by pasting decorated pages to a large piece of wood and hanging the creation from a tree outside her parents' home. These days, the 24-year-old journalist's grass-roots periodical often confronts the often tragic circumstances in the region, with Isshag conducting all her own interviews and information gathering. Passersby eat it up, some traveling several miles to read her installments. Isshag faces pressing issues--threats to her safety, constant insecurity, the loss of relatives--but she bravely soldiers through it all. "Journalism," she says, "is a profession of risk."

I'll refrain from giving any ill-conceived comparisons to custom publishing, but it's interesting how the struggle to accumulate and disseminate important information can bind us across cultures. Isshag has found incredibly creative--and brave--means to deliver her message to the community who needs it. A community that has largely been without a voice, but where one courageous woman is carving out quite the readership.

If only every publication could take such risks. Catch up on Isshag's story here.

March 5, 2007 in audio publication, award winning magazine, award winning newsletter, Blog Outsourcing, blog publish, CMO, company blog, company magazine, company newsletter, Company newsletters, Company publication, Corporate Blogging, corporate magazine, Corporate newsletter, create a newsletter | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Mapping Your Search Results

Posted on February 21, 2007 by Kevin G.

I found a great new search engine that displays your search results in a whole new way.

Imagine viewing and modifying your search results in a visual format - like cities displayed on a map. The name of the search engine is Quintura. When you type in a keyword, the search engine will display related terms in varying placement and font size. I haven’t figured out the reasoning behind it, but it might have something to do with relevancy or amount of information.

It’s like sorting through search terms on a map. Try it out for yourself.

February 21, 2007 in audio publication, award winning design, award winning newsletter, Blog Outsourcing, Blogging Tools, Brand enhancement, Building B2B Relationships, Building Customer Intuition, business credibility, business magazine, Business newsletter, Business relationships, company blog, company newsletter, Company newsletters | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Strike Against the Beast

Posted on February 15, 2007 by Kevin G.

We’ve all heard the story about the little guy scoring one for his team against an impossible opponent. Movies like The Mighty Ducks or Rocky might illustrate this in the most obvious way, but it is rare to find this in the online or technical world. A hacker might be offered a six-figure salary from a major corporation, but that is about it.

Copiepresse, a Belgium copyright protection group, recently won a court battle against Google. It seems unheard of, but Google can do wrong…for some. Google’s providing of news stories with headlines, article snippets, and related pictures initially got them in trouble with the Belgium group back in February 2006. Many of the articles were available only by paid subscriptions to the 18 French-language news journals.

Though Google has lost the battle, it certainly has not lost the war. Often describing court battles as, “business negotiation being done in a courtroom,” Google will continue to contest the verdict as it pushes conventional wisdom on contemporary business practice.

February 15, 2007 in award winning blog, Award winning publications, Blog Outsourcing, Building B2B Relationships, Building Customer Community, Building Customer Intuition, business magazine, Business Marketing, company blog, company magazine, company newsletter sample, Company newsletters, corporate magazine, Corporate newsletter | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

It's my Truthiness and I'll Stick to It

Posted on January 25, 2007 by Kevin G.

I always make it a top priority to stay on top of news developing throughout the day. Spending time at the New York Times and CNN web pages gives me a good portion of my world news, but I always try to keep myself well-rounded. I’m a little bit country and a little bit Rock’n Roll – but mostly rock.

So, another source I commonly utilize for my news intake is the always credible program, the Colbert Report, on Comedy Central. Ok, I may not use it directly as a news source, but how can you deny a show that counts the times Nancy Pelosi blinked during the president’s recent State of the Union address? A reason why I choose to stay out of politics all together.

Anyways, the show is great, but I was intrigued to see that the Colbert Report now utilizes a blog. It’s is always great to establish relationships in the blogosphere. So how about it Steven? I’ll comment on yours if you comment on mine. Let’s build synergy…for the people.

January 25, 2007 in audio publication, award winning magazine, Award winning publications, Blogging Tools, Brand enhancement, Building Customer Community, bulk email marketing, business magazine, Business newsletter, CMO, company magazine, Company newsletters, Corporate Blogging, corporate magazine, Corporate newsletter | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Time for Change

Posted on January 03, 2007 by Kevin G.

As I sat down today to look over my emails and organize my day, I casually browsed my Google sidebar that provides weather, news articles and many other tidbits of info.

Within ten minutes, I came across three turbulent articles concerning the CEOs of prominent companies. I was shocked to read that the CEOs of Sterling Commerce (Samuel Starr) and Earthlink (Garry Betty) both passed away. Since both of them were under the age of 50 and seemed to live such miraculous lives, it appears that the new year has already started off on awkward footing.

Then I read that the CEO of Home Depot, Robert Nardelli, resigned today, which was icing on the cake. Even though he leaves with a hefty sum of money, it will be interesting to see how Home Depot plans to pick itself back up from the real estate slump. Looks like they already have their New Years resolution cut out for them.

January 3, 2007 in audio publication, award winning design, award winning newsletter, Blog Outsourcing, Blogging Tools, Brand enhancement, Building B2B Relationships, Building Customer Intuition, business credibility, business magazine, Business newsletter, Business relationships, company blog, company newsletter, Company newsletters | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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