Andrew O’Connell wrote a blog regarding the link between power and a team’s success. By looking at a computer that simulated a Mount Everest expedition, teams who had overpowering leaders only completed 59% of their goals as opposed to teams who did not have a clear leader completed 76% of their goals. This is interesting because it is common for teams to have one person who dominates group discussion. This widely accepted view is counter productive.

The reason why the group is less efficient is because of an overall lack of different perspectives from group members. When a leader has power they feel the need to talk a lot. This frequency of talking gives others a sense that their opinion is not accepted. In turn, teams do not have different perspectives on tasks.

Businesses can minimize this effect on their team’s performance by training leaders to being more open to ideas, or encouraging subordinates to question a leader’s ideas.

Through my experience with CoastalReignApparel (Team, school, and corporate clothing) I have realized that there are differences between marketing to regular consumers and businesses.

1) Businesses want convenience

Businesses are all about efficiency. The more efficient you are at buying something, the more time you have to do more important tasks. In my company, I am hoping to implement an easier ordering process which involves instant quotes, artwork proofing, and secured payment.

2) Businesses want assurance

Businesses have strict deadlines that they must meet. Many companies order their items in time for events or have deadlines. They need assurance that their products will be there on time and of quality. In my company, I am hoping to build this aspect through customer reviews and online certifications that give more legitimacy. (Eg. BBB, Paypal, etc)

3) Businesses want cheap pricing

A business can increase profits by increasing profit margins or decreasing the amount of expenses they have. Businesses are value conscious. In the end they just want the product. Aesthetically pleasing measures will not be effective. ( Eg. Packaging, Tags, etc).

I hope to convey these messages in my new website.

Corina’s article on ethical business practices is very interesting, however, I believe that her comment that “[Businesses’] only behave ethically if they are caught having unethical practices.” is not accurate. I feel that this is a generalization of businesses that seek to achieve financial profit in any means necessary.

One example of an ethical company is Ten Tree. It was founded because it wanted to create a positive environmental impact. They plant ten trees for every clothing item that is bought.

Because not all businesses willingly behave ethically, consumer pressures are necessary. In this sense I believe Corina and I share the same views. Nowadays, consumers have the power to change a companies’ practices by damaging reputation. The company’s change to a more ethical solution is not out of their own will, but still benefits it’s shareholders.

More companies that audit a businesses’ ethical practices are being founded. Through this, we can pressure more businesses that do not have ethical standards in their organizational culture.

Ha Pham’s post talks about how all businesses strive for innovation. This brought me to think about different businesses/organizations and how they innovated in different ways. Most people think of innovation as creating new features for a product, but I believe there are many other categories for innovation.

Companies can innovate in terms of marketing. One such example is how America encouraged the use of stairs instead of automated transport in a skytrain station. They painted their staircase like a piano to encourage walking on stairs.

Another way to innovate is customer service. One example of this is Apple. Their customer service is exceptional.  Not only do they help customers choose their products, but they also help them after their purchase with the Genius Bar. This helps build brand loyalty.

Last but not least, companies can innovate internal processes.  This can make manufacturing more efficient and increase profits. One way companies can innovate is through the use of different machines to increase efficiency.

I hope others realize that product innovation is not the only way you can set yourself apart. Marketing, service, and internal innovations are just as important.

Astonishingly, there are striking similarities between marketing and physics. Dan Cobley of Ted Talks talks about how 2 formulas or theories can be applied to marketing.

1) Fnet = MA

Newton’s second law of physics which apply to forces on a closed system can be rearranged to F/M = A. This basically means that a larger object requires more force to  accelerate.

In the business perspective, it is also very much true. Large companies who try to set a new image for themselves usually end up creating subsidiaries. One such example is Banana Republic, Gap, and Old Navy. They all are part of the same company but target different segments. This gives companies the ability to change image.

2) Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

This states that when an object is observed, the process of observation changes the result.  In physics when observing something, the particles of a light source can change the material.

The same thing applies to market research. When consumer traits are being observed, they change according to their environment. Mothers in focus groups say that they always feed their children the healthiest option, however, McDonalds sell over 1 million happy meals a day.

It is amazing how two unrelated subjects have striking similarities.

Seth Godin of Ted Talks has an interesting take on how ideas spread. Normally, businesses spread their ideas through the mass market. The internet, radio, and television have all been used vastly in this repetitive fashion – Buy Ads -> More Awareness – > Generate Sales -> Make a Profit -> Buy More ads. Also known as the TV Industrial Complex, the cycle is growing less and less effective as consumers are changing.

Consumers are bombarded with increasingly more information while they have less and less time. This leads to consumers ignoring most ads they see. Normally, marketers aim for the largest group of people, the early and late majority. These people have been so accustomed to advertisements and do not have a direct interest in advertised products; It is no longer effective to bombard them with media.

Companies need to be remarkable – worth spreading remarks about. The innovators and early adopters are who we should be targeting. They actively seek ideas they love. These  people will help spread your ideas and eventually capture more and more people.

Being safe is risky, you need to set yourself apart and target your fanatical audience by having a unique product.

Another concept I learnt from Eli is SEO. Google aims to provide online users the most relevant webpage that suits their interest. Search Engine Optimizations allows your site to rank higher when people search related words. In this video, I learnt three very important concepts.

First, Google reads text. Google reads html text, they cannot decipher pixels. Therefore it is effective to have descriptions of your products as opposed to pictures with clear messages. It is important to note that Google can detect when keywords are being repeated in devious ways such as matching the font and background color.

Secondly, other’s opinons matter. To be considered a relavent search, it is helpful to have other sites linking to your website. This shows Google that your site is worth viewing. To do this, start getting your name out and writing blogs.

Thirdly, help Google read your site.  Google has “robots” that analyze relevance in a site’s content, which may be misinterpreted. To avoid this, you can create a sitemap which provides an outline for Google’s “robots” to analyze.

SEO is dynamic and subject to changes. I urge others to research this topic to find more insight.

Before watching Eli the Computer Guy‘s video on Google ad words, I thought television,  newspaper, and radio advertisements were a cost effective way for marketing. Google ad-words places your website as the top hit when certain keywords are entered as shown in the below picture. Typically encouraged means of advertisement are not cheap and do not ensure that your impressions are exposed to the right segment.

By asking his customers how they were referred to his business, Eli successfully calculated the average cost per customer for different methods of advertisement. Amazingly, Google provided 400 customers for a mere $80 per customer while radio advertisement’s generated 1 customer for $5000 in marketing costs per customer.

Along with being cost efficient, Google Adwords has two awesome features. Firstly, you can pinpoint your target by encapsulating an area with your mouse on google maps. This allows for you to target your demographic geographically within a few meters. Secondly, there are options to show your ads in a specific time frame. This can be useful for targeting people who work set hours.

The simplicity and effectiveness of Google Adwords is amazing, I hope to use this medium to promote my own business’ website. (CoastalReignApparel.com)

Last week I came across something very interesting during my free time. Dan Pink of Ted Talks posted a video titled “The Puzzle of Motivation”. Here he introduced a mind boggling concept which was portrayed through the simple candle stick problem. The goal of the puzzle is to place the candle on a wall. If you look at the image below, many people with straightforward thinking would simply try to glue the candle on the wall, or place tacks to secure it. None of these solutions were practical and ended up in the candle falling over. The solution required critical outside the box thinking which involves securing the platform with tacks and placing the candle on top.  Dan Pink followed by conducting research on the puzzle.

In the business world, motivation is one of the key aspects companies use to develop faster and more efficient employees.  When Dan timed individuals to solve the puzzle as quickly as possible, he gave one set of people an incentive, and the other no incentive. To his surprise, the people without the incentive solved the puzzle much faster. He conducted this experiment through different samples of people in different areas and the results were the same. This is astonishing because in the business world, tasks are increasingly complex and require outside the box thinking. Management is making the wrong decision by giving incentives. Incentives narrowed a person’s ability to think outside the box.