What type of leader are you?

Part 1. What is leadership?  What defines a true leader?  Are they born or is this a learned trait?  Perhaps effective leadership can result from both nature (i.e., innate talents) as well as nuture (i.e., acquired skills).

The "Great man" leaders are deemed heroic, mythic and destined to rise to leadership when needed as opposed to those who learned the traits. This style is exemplified by the late Steve Jobs. 

Behavioral theories of leadership are based upon the belief that great leaders are made, not born and focuses on the actions of leaders. 

Participative theories vary in that  leaders retain the right to allow the input of others.  This is often called collaborative and is the kind of leadership style I use. 

Transactional theories focus on the role of supervision, organization and group performance. These theories base leadership on a system of rewards and punishments.  

Managerial theories are often used in business; when employees are successful, they are rewarded; when they fail, they are reprimanded or punished.  How often have you seen this in play where you work?

So where do you fit in?  Stay tuned for Part 2.

E-Marketing: Challenges Ahead

It all starts with W5

What is the selling feature you are trying to convey and do your customers understand your "value" statement?  What strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats do you foresee in the immediate future and down the road so to speak.

Who is your target audience and how are you communicating with them to attract AND retain them?

Why would a potential customer want your product or service over someone else's?

Where do your customers buy their products.  Do they receive a  great buying experience - so much so that they will become repeat purchases and eventually loyal brand followers?

When do your customers prefer to shop and what source of media do they prefer.  Remember demographics - this is key.  Younger buyers behave differently than mature buyers for example.  Do you use and monitor feedback from your website or Facebook page properly to increase sales?

Social Media Marketing: Challenges Ahead

Social media is here and it's time to face the challenges and take advantage of this huge opportunity.  Life as we know it is changing and we better embrace this movement or face the consequences.  Both personal and business practices are changing our lives - they way we spend our time and the manner in which news travels. 

Facebook still commands about half of the social media logins market having gained significant market share from Google and Yahoo over the past 2 years.  Who's left -Twitter, U-Tube and LinkedIn also dominate both business professionals as well as consumers. 

These very same consumers look at website content - they follow their favorite brands with hope to see advertisements, promotions and give-a-ways that they can take advantage of. 

QR codes - the new smart phone scanning technology that takes you to a company or person's website, is catching on fast from billboards to point of sale material to  QR code stickers placed beside UPC stickers.

New products are being tested through comments from Facebook pages and even new recipes or flavors are being chosen by the public - what a fabulous venue to get your customer involved. 

Buddy Media, the social media engagement company, recently completed a study of 320 top brands on Twitter — Fortune 1000 companies like Coke, American Eagle, Microsoft, and Nike — looking at what works and what doesn’t to get maximum engagement, and the greatest degree of virality.  One of the surprising findings is that the best times to engage on Twitter is almost opposite the best times to engage on Facebook.

Studies consistently portray consumers buying patterns being significantly affected by promotions on company websites that they follow.

Good news and fast customer responses can turn a potential disaster into something good.   You must be transparent - that is tell honestly what is going on.  Your brand's personality is your biggest asset when running a social media campaign -- but only if you're authentic and believable.  

Launch your New Product with Crowd Sourcing

Social Media at its Best:

Social media is a valuable tool to solicit and engage potential customers - let them create and pick the next Big Thing.  Think of crowd sourcing as an online tool or think tank of ideas followed by a social media vote for the best idea.  Rewarding the winner can really drive success. 

Examples are endless: Samuel Adams asked their consumers to create a new crowd sourced beer.  Arizona Iced Tea is asking consumers to create its next flavor.

Outside of the US, McDonald's has crowd sourced burger recipes and Lay's create-a-chip contests produced Caesar Salad flavored chips is Australia, Shrimp chips in Egypt Sausage-flavored chips in Poland.

Lay's is now launching a $1 Million winner campaign through it's "Do us a Flavor" Facebook vote.  Facebook is changing its rules with the familiar "Like" button being replaced with an "I'd Eat That" button.  Lay's will select three finalists - all of which will be developed into flavors and sold in early 2013.  Then a final Facebook vote will decide on a winner.

Food for thought: What a tremendous way to create a buz with a head-to-head flavor showdown.

Gateway into Canadian & Emerging Markets

How do Canadians Measure Up?

So why write a book about the Canadian food industry, how we eat, shop, buy and sell value-added food products?  There is no single source guideline that depicts the Canadian experience from field to table. 

Why is Agri-food such an important asset for Canada?  Why do companies want to set up shop and diversify their businesses into Canadian or developing markets?  What is so enticing about being a "Canuck"?  Why is the Canadian economy embracing economic growth ahead of the US which is still experiencing high unemployment rates, outsourced manufacturing trends, declining health and nutrition standards and a sluggish recovery out of an economic recession? 

Our food and beverage industry is flourishing.  We respect our health and diets.  We love social media.  Despite huge geographical distribution hurdles, our retailers, wholesalers, and food service industries are thriving.  The Canadian marketplace is a hidden treasure that drives our economy. 

Canada truly is the land or opportunity.  This book will enlighten you with an in depth analyses of current market trends; best practices of multinationals; tips on launching your products,

technologies or  processes into Canadian or emerging markets; and even ideas on how to annihilate your competitor. 

Whether you are a food scientist, an executive, a health food addict, an athlete, someone working within the Agri-food industry, an entrepreneur, a dietician, a nutritionist, a consumer, or food junkie, you will surely gain a better insight into what all the excitement is about - food for thought!

                                                    Coming soon...a new book entitled -

"Food for thought. Gateway into Canadian and Emerging Markets - Tips for Success"

Health & Wellness in America

How do North Americans Measure Up?

So why write a book about health & wellness in America, what we eat, and how we take care of ourselves?  There is no single source guideline that depicts the North American experience from field to table and what to do along the way.  Diets are everywhere and most do not work in the long term.  Exercise is not always an achievable and sustaining lifestyle alternative.

Why is health and wellness an important asset?  Why do companies want to set up shop, diversify their businesses and get everyone exercising and dieting to look and feel great?  What is so enticing about being a "Healthy American or Lean Canuck"?  Why is the family unit embracing the ideal aura of healthy living while realizing declining health and nutrition standards when compared to other cultures like Norway? 

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.5 billion adults aged 20 and older are overweight worldwide.  As if that weren’t anxiety-inducing enough, more than 200 million men and nearly 300 million women among them also qualify as obese. 

Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (a ratio of weight in relation to height) of 30 or above. That's equal to a five-foot, six-inch (168-cm) person weighing 186 pounds (84.4 kg) or a six-foot (183-cm) person at 221 pounds (100 kg).

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said the guidelines echo its 2003 recommendations on screening for obesity, but take into account more recent evidence that adults can lose weight and keep it off with the right help.

"The good news is that even what you might consider to be modest rather than radical weight loss has tremendous health benefits," including lowering diabetes risk and blood pressure, said Susan Curry, a member of the task force and dean of the University of Iowa College of Public Health in Iowa City.

"Losing 5 percent of your body weight has tremendous health benefits, and intensive behavioral counseling programs help you do that and sustain it," Curry told Reuters Health. "Your primary care provider can, we hope, help you to find evidence-based programs."

The need to address weight gain nationally has grown as America tallies the health and economic costs of its obesity epidemic. More than two-thirds of the country's adults can be classified as overweight or obese.

Effective weight-loss programs, Curry said, include both nutrition and exercise support. They should help people address any barriers they have to making - and maintaining - changes in their lifestyle.

Coming soon...a new book entitled -

"Food for thought. Health & Wellness in America - Tips for Success"

Part 4. E-Marketing Strategies.- Social KPI's

Although it can be challenging to organize your team around social KPIs that tie into your overall marketing goals, it’s not impossible.  At Buddy Media, their data shows that every share on Facebook generates an average of $2.10 in incremental sales. Ticketmaster has reported that every time a user posted on their news feed that they bought a ticket from Ticketmaster, friends spent an additional $5.30 on Ticketmaster.

How can one company selling the same type of product--a car--see unequivocal success while another says it doesn’t even know if a consumer has seen the ad?  Through Facebook, Ford has earned lifelong brand advocates who will forever think differently about the company.  Kia Motors, on the other hand,  are not taking a rigorous and systematic approach to measuring Facebook marketing, as evidenced by their inability to communicate their results and build a community at scale.

The answer is simple: Facebook is a site that connects nearly a billion people to each other globally. However, it’s your job as an advertiser to say something that’s interesting, and to measure the results.  Facebook has created a large and vibrant ecosystem to help you out.  In order to succeed, companies need to organize internally and optimize content to get the right message to the right people at the right time.  If the advertiser isn’t organized to connect with people and publish the right content, failure is inevitable.

No wonder some brands continue to ask what Facebook is doing for them. In reality, these brands should be asking what they can do for people. Criticizing any platform is easy. Much easier, it seems for many advertisers, than organizing internally and publishing compelling content.