Growing Ideas into Business
The 6 “P”s = Profitability

Last week, we introduced the idea of the formula that helps grow businesses. We call it the 6 “P”s = Profitability. With any idea, there is a mindset or attitude that we have that governs our actions. Last week I shared the first five of the 10 Commandments of Ideas. Here is the whole list:

Before we can start to build our Promotional Marketing Calendar we need to understand why we must have a Promotional Calendar in the first place. There are a few reasons:

A successful social strategy isn't perfect, says Toby Daniels, CEO of the media strategy firm Crowdcentric. It's risky and often a little raw, which allows for adjustments and improvements after you have had a chance to gauge the initial public reaction.

The tables are turning, or are they? Have I discovered a profound or breakthrough method of marketing? Or is this just a new twist on an old idea? Before we get too far, let’s define my interpretation of promotion and positioning.

There is no question that major socioeconomic and technological shifts have changed the game of business. Business is now forced to play by a different set of rules. Those rules, according to popular OPEN contributor Barry Moltz, are reminiscent of how things work in a small town.

Alan Perlis , the first head of the computer science department at Carnegie Mellon University, often told his students that "one man's constant is another man's variable." Pricing is one area in which understanding how constants can become variables can help businesses be successful.

The year 2011 is showing great signs of retail growth due to solid Black Friday sales. Shoppers with pent up demand are now looking to open their checkbooks this holiday season and make up for the past few years of shying away from making discretionary purchases. However, 2012 will be a challenging year for inventors and retailers alike. When times are tough, people tend to stay close to home and gravitate towards things that are familiar and comforting to them.    

Retailers witnessed exciting new developments on both the industry and legislative sides in March 2012. This year’s unseasonably warm winter continued into March and helped give a noticeable boost to consumers’ moods and retailers’ sales. On the legislative front, Congress took steps in the right direction to reauthorize federal transportation funding, and the Senate held a hearing that would help boost travel and tourism to the states by reducing the visa application process – both welcome sights to NRF and retailers alike. Read on below to see what else was hot in March.