I had a great time at the Business Chicks lunch this week. The photo is of Janine Allis, myself, Kristina Karlson (Congratulations on her EY Entrepreneur of the Year Southern Region win) and Natalie Bloom – who popped in to support the conversation. One of the questions from the audience was on mentoring – and I mentioned the 3 things that I ask a potential mentoree if I am approached. I invited the audience to contact me to find out…
I usually keep my blogs to share things that I have learned and discovered in the pursuit of building a business. But as a business leader this week of course I have been left bewildered. Recently I wrote about the disgrace of both major parties advertising and promotional campaigns And clearly I was not alone in my alarm. There has been much commentary this week. In fact there is little else in the press. I have just watched the 4…
Each trimester at RedBalloon we galvanize the plan by announcing a theme. The theme is always based on what is the most critical thing for the business to achieve right now! Last trimester the whole company got behind a ‘Red Dawn’ theme. Everyone chipped in as we launched the new version of the website. Some wrote copy, others proofread, some tested or took photographs. It was the biggest project we have ever undertaken since our launch. It went smoothly –…
RedBalloon for Corporate is quite pleased to be nominated for the Human Capital Top 5 Teambuilding Organisation or Incentive provider award – but apparently to take the nomination to the next stage – people need to vote for us… If you are a client, know what we do – or just want to put in a good word… please click to have your say. Thank you.
Speaking with my new RedBalloon colleague Philippa Lowe this week, she has joined the business to support the communications efforts. She asked me the obvious question ”What do you do in a week?” I mentioned what I get up to and she responded “well if I’m interested in what you are doing other people might be curious about your life as a professional speaker and entrepreneur.” As a result I’m sharing what I am doing for the week. (Of course…
First of all I would like to say to the advertising agencies working on with the political parties for this election… tough gig – the fees must be nice – but, ugh, I bet the briefs you are receiving are cluttered – and the approval process a nightmare. I was watching ‘Top Gear ‘with my son (12) last night – and at every single ad break we were bombarded with political messages. My son would yell at the TV –…
I’m a marketer and a ‘sucker’ for new things… but the shear volume of messages that I’m bombarded with each day overwhelms. It is very hard to be a remarkable ‘purple cow’ as Seth Godin implored – when everyone is claiming to be a ‘purple cow.’ Real cut through comes from the authentic experience someone has of a brand. At RedBalloon we just figure that rather than making ‘promises’ and ‘ trying to sell’ stuff – we will just let…
I’ve often blogged about how people talk about the business they work for – this century anyone and everyone can be a publisher – using twitter and facebook to talk about their work place. An employer brand is part of the powerful marketing mix in creating customer experience. If we think of company X favourably but then hear how poorly company X treats it’s people we think less of them. (I am not going to buy into the David Jones…
Imagine running a business based on fun - that's what I decided to try when I left a very serious corporate career in marketing to set up RedBalloon...
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Questions…
Recently Business Chicks posted on its FaceBook page an open invitation ‘what would you ask an entrepreneur if you had the chance?’ Well that is para phrasing really… but I thought I would tak on answer the questions posed. Q: Sarah Louise What is the one piece of advice you were given as you were starting out that you would pass onto others? A: Hi Sarah, the one piece advise – or the one question I ask anybody who is…