By Jesse Rodgers
A tweet by Peter Mansbridge brought a lot of people’s attention to an article entitled Steve Jobs’ Lesson for RIM: Power of Perceptions, Turnaround 101, which focuses on how Steve Jobs changed the perception of Apple. That perception shift was driven a lot by product, and it wasn’t the iPod that did it. It was the other product — the Mac computer — and Apple’s ability to extend the life of a dead OS. Apple focused on revenue building and its “cult of mac” first.
The problem Steve Jobs faced with Apple’s OS going from the OS 8/9 to X and where RIM is now feels very similar. Apple extended the life of a dead OS while it built the OS for its future (OS X), the one that gave it the flexibility to build the iPod, the iPhone, and beyond. Did Jobs manage perceptions through how he spoke about Apple? Sure, but he also needed his product to deliver on the promise that Apple is innovative and cool.
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By David French
I visited a wine tasting opening event for a make-it-yourself wine business in Shawville, Québec recently. While reclining in comfort, I considered the question: “Do intellectual property rights matter for small businesses in little towns?” IP rights refer to patents, trademarks, copyrights, secrets and a few other subtle types of non-tangible property rights. Everybody’s always interested in patents because they think patents are a ticket to getting rich. But this happens so rarely that I would like to skip to the most important IP right: trademarks.
What is a trademark? Before answering this question, there is a key issue that is worth considering: After you spend all your money on advertising and promotion, including printing letterhead and handing out business cards, what do you have left in terms of value? The answer is people’s impressions and memory of you and your business. And how are people going to remember you and your business? That is where a trademark comes in.
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By Alexandra Reid
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are Fast Company, Econsultancy, MarketingWeek, TechVibes, and Business 2 Community.
How to properly define ‘great leader’ — and act like one
We don’t think of leadership as some set of fuzzy, intangible character qualities that some people are born with and others are not. We think of leadership as the performance of behaviours. The skill of performing these behaviours can be learned and developed by anybody. Some people do not develop these skills and therefore do not perform leader behaviours with much competence. Others develop some skill and become pretty good leaders. Others develop considerable skill and become great leaders. Author Geoff Smart defines “great leader” and explains what they do to achieve great results.
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By Alexandra Reid
We are bringing you our roundup a little earlier than usual this month because we will be celebrating Canada Day early next week when this post would otherwise be published.
We covered a lot of ground this month on our blog, from RIM to training your boss, tribal marketing to productivity tips. We even launched content marketing as a new service offering.
In case you missed any of our posts, here’s a handy roundup:
June 6: Getting the marketing right at an event product launch by Francis Moran and Alexandra Reid
June 14: Putting Ottawa’s puzzle together by Leo Valiquette
June 18: Balancing investment, Minimum Viable Product, and time to market by Peter Hanschke
June 20: Training your new boss by Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
And on a related note…
In addition to our series, our associates and guest bloggers were also busy writing on a great range of topics. Here are our other posts from June, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
June 4: Why RIM could and should bounce back: Mobile needs to innovate by Jesse Rodgers
June 5: Levering the power of teamwork to drive a successful content marketing program by Alexandra Reid
June 11: The evolution of branding and advertising by Rob Woyzbun
June 26: Ottawa entrepreneur Scott Annan comments on the relaunch of Mercury Grove by Alexandra Reid
June 12: Content marketing tips: SEO implications for rebroadcast articles by Alexandra Reid
June 7: We launch new content marketing service offering by Alexandra Reid
June 19: 10 questions B2B companies should ask before selecting a content marketing service provider by Alexandra Reid
June 27: 7 ways to stay sane and productive by Leo Valiquette
June 21: PR people really are dead and mindless sheep by Francis Moran
June 8: Is it spring time for venture capital in Canada? by Francis Moran
June 13: Product marketing vs. brand marketing: Separate your product or separate your users? by Ken Rosen
June 25: Tribal marketing for ‘Generation Me’ by Bob Bailly
June 28: Why is there a lighthouse on your brochure? by Francis Moran
June 22: Social Media Breakfast Ottawa: Digital measurement and consumer understanding by Alexandra Reid
Image: Michel Z Binden
By Alexandra Reid
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are MarketingSherpa, MarketingProfs, Business2Community, Entrepreneur Stories, PC Advisor, and Wired.
Content marketing: 21 ideas for planning, creating, and leveraging content from your webinars
Webinars can help your content marketing and audience-building efforts. They are great tools to use in the complex sales cycle, including nurturing and generating leads. In a recent webinar with ReadyTalk, MECLABS’ presenters Todd Lebo and Daniel Burstein shared 21 ideas with the audience to plan, create and leverage webinars, including segmentation, repurposing content and multichannel marketing.
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