A handful of us "lensmasters" attended the Corante Marketing conference in New York City on June 9, 2006. Some of the others created great "play-by-play" lenses of the proceedings, but I was interested in the practical applicability of the material presented to my own niche area of expertise - small organizations and businesses.
In general, I felt the conference was geared towards larger organizations - discussions of branding included many examples for the best known companies including Disney, GM, Proctor & Gamble, etc., and the very interesting keynote was given by a Lenovo executive. The other target audience seemed to be those in the PR and advertising industries - departments and agencies.
However, I knew that with a few days subconscious mulling and my trusty notepad filled up from Friday's sessions, I could synthesize the more pertinent information for my audience.
Business Success Tips
- Staff Diversity
- Operational Efficiency
- Customer Service Excellence
- Community Involvement/Event Sponsorship
The "Process of Innovation"
- Identify your customers & Understand the job they are trying to accomplish
- When interviewing customers, don't ask directly about your product - Ask "Around" It - Get Their Impression of Their Problems - not the possible solutions (That's your job!)
- Break Down their goal(s) into smaller steps and pieces - Determine How They Measure Successhttp://www.squidoo.com/images/icon-reorder.gif
reorder - Evaluate which are currently unmet - Decide which ones are most frequently unmet, or most important for success
- Develop Solutions - consider if you have resources availbale to explore untried "out-there" ideas in addition to more established solutions. Consider: motivation + available resources + challenges for implementation.
Books by the Speakers
Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing
Amazon Price: $4.50 (as of 10/11/2008)
SPARK: Be More Innovative Through Co-Creation
Amazon Price: $15.96 (as of 10/11/2008)
Beyond the Brand: Why Engaging the Right Customers is Essential to Winning in Business
Amazon Price: (as of 10/11/2008)
Various Related Links
- Bill Tancer - Hitwise US
- Bill Tancer - Hitwise US
Analyst Weblog - Lenovo United States
- Lenovo ThinkPad, ThinkCentre and the NEW Lenovo 3000 family include desktop and notebook computers built to meet needs of business. Learn about Lenovo's products including accessories, software, and services
- ODP - Open Directory Project
- Help build the most comprehensive human-reviewed directory of the web
