NAMED BEST MARKETING BOOK OF 2011 BY THE AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION How organizations can deliver significant performance gains through strategic investment in marketing In the new era of tight marketing budgets, no organization can continue to spend on marketing without knowing what's working and what's wasted. Data-driven marketing improves efficiency and effectiveness of marketing expenditures across the spectrum of marketing activities from branding and awareness, trail and loyalty, to new product launch and Internet marketing. Based on new research from the Kellogg School of Management, this book is a clear and convincing guide to using a more rigorous, data-driven strategic approach to deliver significant performance gains from your marketing. Explains how to use data-driven marketing to deliver return on marketing investment (ROMI) in any organization In-depth discussion of the fifteen key metrics every marketer should know Based on original research from America's leading marketing business school, complemented by experience teaching ROMI to executives at Microsoft, DuPont, Nisan, Philips, Sony and many other firms Uses data from a rigorous survey on strategic marketing performance management of 252 Fortune 1000 firms, capturing $53 billion of annual marketing spending In-depth examples of how to apply the principles in small and large organizations Free downloadable ROMI templates for all examples given in the book With every department under the microscope looking for results, those who properly use data to optimize their marketing are going to come out on top every time.
Practical advice from some of today's top early stage investors and entrepreneurs TechStars is a mentorship-driven startup accelerator with operations in three U.S. cities. Once a year in each city, it funds about ten Internet startups with a small amount of capital and surrounds them with around fifty top Internet entrepreneurs and investors. Historically, about seventy-five percent of the companies that go through TechStars raise a meaningful amount of angel or venture capital. Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup is a collection of advice that comes from individuals who have passed through, or are part of, this proven program. Each vignette is an exploration of information often heard during the TechStars program and provides practical insights into early stage entrepreneurship. Contains seven sections, each focusing on a major theme within the TechStars program, including idea and vision, fundraising, legal and structure, and work/life balance Created by two highly regarded experts in the world of early stage investing Essays in each section come from the experienced author team as well as TechStar mentors, entrepreneurs, and founders of companies While you'll ultimately have to make your own decisions about what's right for your business, Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup can get your entrepreneurial endeavor headed in the right direction.
Do you consider yourself a hunter? If you have you ever dated, played sports, or held a job, then your answer should be yes. We are always hunting—trying to track down and take the things we want, the things that will make our life bigger, better, safer; more satisfying, exciting, and just plain fun. In The Hunt, serial entrepreneur, hunter, and OutdoorHub founder David Farbman offers a way of thinking about work, life, and our connection with the world based upon the ancient discipline of hunting. The Hunt will inspire anyone striving for more to think like hunters—with poise, concentration, and skill; to identify their targets; and, with focus, determination, and satisfaction, to achieve those goals. Specifically, The Hunt shows how to: Get a bigger, clearer picture of your life and goals, and discover things about yourself and your ability that you’ve never noticed or seen before Gain the hunter’s special skills at observation and perception, to understand your environment; Learn “predatory consciousness” – the full understanding of your prey, whether business partners or competitors, so you can predict their actions; Harness and leverage every opportunity to obtain your desired outcomes and inspire your best thinking Fully understand where to pick battles, and where not to “hunt” at all. The principles of The Hunt will give you a clearer, sharper lens for seeing the world and shaping your role in it. You’ll make better decisions, form stronger alliances, build better strategies, target bigger wins, and uncover more opportunities. Best of all, you will become a true hunter when you know who you are, what you want, and how to get what you’re hunting for.
A practical, step-by-step guide to leading change efforts for sustainable results Leading Change Step-by-Step offers a comprehensive and tactical guide for change leaders. Spiro's approach has been field-tested for more than a decade and proven effective in a wide variety of public sector organizations including K-12 schools, universities, international agencies and non-profits. The book is filled with proven tactics for implementing change successfully, with helpful tools to put change efforts into practice (including forms, rubrics, and helpful questions to ask). Also included are success stories that show how this approach has been used effectively in 22 states and internationally. The tools reveal how the leader analyzes situations, identifies the groups needed to get desired results, and works with them effectively to do so. Includes engaging self-analyses for leaders to inform their leadership when putting in place a change initiative Jody Spiro is an experienced leader of systems change for public, nonprofit, and private sector organizations Offers information on assessing a situation, engaging stakeholders, planning «early wins,» minimizing resistance, building a supportive culture and much more This important resource shows how to translate a vision of a sustainable educational reform into a series of coordinated action steps.
The relentless pursuit of industrial efficiency no longer yields the profits it once did because it requires a level of business predictability that no longer exists. Instead, the Internet and global video and telecom systems provide a massive and continuous flow of data that causes the whole world to behave like a giant stock market, with all the volatility and uncertainty that goes along with such markets. Responsiveness now trumps efficiency. By being responsive to the evolving needs and desires of specific groups of customers, companies can wrap their products and services in a tailored blanket of value-added services to consistently earn an additional four percent or more gross margin than they would otherwise earn for the product or service alone. This customer and market specialization is the most promising and the most sustainable source of profits in our fluid, real-time economy. Part of the Microsoft Executive Leadership Series, Business Agility discusses the three fundamental process loops that drive an agile enterprise and how they work together to deliver the responsiveness that generates profits in a high-change economy. Providing strategies for innovative and pragmatic use of people, process, and technology to drive operations in an agile enterprise, this book reveals the principles of the agile enterprise, backed by real-world case studies from the author's own experience. Michael Hugos is a speaker, writer, and practitioner in IT and business agility, and agile system development methods. He writes a column for Computerworld and a blog titled «Doing Business in Real Time» for CIO magazine.
In the second edition of her critically acclaimed book The Dreamkeepers, Gloria Ladson-Billings revisits the eight teachers who were profiled in the first edition and introduces us to new teachers who are current exemplars of good teaching. She shows that culturally relevant teaching is not a matter of race, gender, or teaching style. What matters most is a teacher's efforts to work with the unique strengths a child brings to the classroom. A brilliant mixture of scholarship and storytelling, The Dreamkeepers challenges us to envision intellectually rigorous and culturally relevant classrooms that have the power to improve the lives of not just African American students, but all children. This new edition also includes questions for reflection
The definitive guide to best practices for mastering techniques of the insider-led transition planning A must have book for business owners, key employees, and their advisors who need to be aware of the full spectrum of succession options, Buyouts provides objectives, advice, steps, and a host of examples on the full spectrum of insider-led buyouts. A road map for CPAs, it presents the parameters for many of the major industry segments, techniques for managing risk, providing retention and performance incentives for key personnel and insights into getting deals financed. Features advice and examples of insider led buyouts Essential guidance on succession options for business owners, key employees, and their advisors The 411 on selling your company for a fair price, maintaining control over the process, and realizing lifelong goals Transition planning is becoming a hot business topic as millions of business owners head into retirement. The fact is that only a limited number of privately held companies will be successfully sold to third parties. A road map for CPAs, Buyouts presents the parameters for many of the major industry segments, techniques for managing risk, providing retention and performance incentives for key personnel, as well as insights into getting deals financed.
An urgent wake-up call—and radical action plan—for business leaders everywhere While it focuses primarily on Canadian business, this important book shares valuable insights of benefit to transformational business leaders everywhere. Without sugar coating his message, author R. Douglas Williamson, head of the prestigious consultancy, The Beacon Group, points to complacency, lack of leadership sophistication, and an inward focus as the chief reasons why Canadian companies are at risk of falling behind the rest of the world. Issuing an urgent call to action, Williamson helps leaders understand the four principle challenges facing the modern leader and describes the eight essential leadership competencies required to navigate the future. He provides powerful strategies, tools and techniques for how to reframe thinking about leadership and reform leadership strategies. Case Studies from The Beacon Group’s wide and diversified client base include The Four Seasons, Scotiabank, Nortel Networks, Research in Motion, The Hudson’s Bay Company, Export Development Canada, Holt Renfrew, and many others. An impassioned call to action for leaders everywhere combined with practical advice and tools to help leaders take up the responsibility of transformational leadership during a period of unprecedented change and monumental global challenges. One of the rare books to focus on Canadian business and business leadership, it explains why that country's competitiveness is in serious jeopardy and what can be done about it.
AARP Digital Editions offer you practical tips, proven solutions, and expert guidance. The world of borrowing and debt management has changed dramatically, leaving people confused about how best to secure their financial future. This book is the only guide with detailed advice to help you become debt free or master the debt you have, based on the latest laws and new government programs and policies implemented under the Obama administration. Is the information and advice on debt management different than in years past? Definitely. In this savvy, engaging guide, bestselling financial expert Jordan Goodman will tell you how to Win the mortgage game: avoid foreclosure, obtain the best refi, and modify your mortgage even if it is «under water» Clean up your credit report and dramatically boost your credit score Negotiate new terms and payments for burdensome medical bills, student loans, and credit cards Protect yourself from the devastation of identity theft Master the new credit card rules, and avoid the rate and fee traps Learn a revolutionary strategy that will help you become mortgage free in 5 to 7 years, change the way you pay all your bills, and save hundreds of thousands of dollars Master Your Debt recommends many pioneering strategies as it lays out an innovative plan for achieving the elusive goal of financial success. The book is filled with helpful web sites, toll free numbers, associations and government agencies, and vetted companies and services to help you implement this advice. In today's volatile economy, getting out of debt is the key to surviving and thriving, and author Jordan Goodman provides you with the strategies and tools to live debt free.
Strategies and tools to live debt free The world of borrowing and debt management has changed dramatically, leaving people confused about how best to secure their financial future. This book is the only guide with detailed advice to help you become debt free or master the debt you have, based on the latest laws and new government programs and policies implemented under the Obama administration. Is the information and advice on debt management different than in years past? Definitely. In this savvy, engaging guide, bestselling financial expert Jordan Goodman will tell you how to Win the mortgage game: avoid foreclosure, obtain the best refi, and modify your mortgage even if it is «under water» Clean up your credit report and dramatically boost your credit score Negotiate new terms and payments for burdensome medical bills, student loans, and credit cards Protect yourself from the devastation of identity theft Master the new credit card rules, and avoid the rate and fee traps Learn a revolutionary strategy that will help you become mortgage free in 5 to 7 years, change the way you pay all your bills, and save hundreds of thousands of dollars Master Your Debt recommends many pioneering strategies as it lays out an innovative plan for achieving the elusive goal of financial success. The book is filled with helpful web sites, toll free numbers, associations and government agencies, and vetted companies and services to help you implement this advice. In today's volatile economy, getting out of debt is the key to surviving and thriving, and author Jordan Goodman provides you with the strategies and tools to live debt free.