Business Based on Social Entrepreneurship Ideas Develops Strong Customer Loyalty

A SOCIAL REASON!

What is Social Entrepreneurship? It depends upon who you ask and when. The definition keeps changing over time and broadening to include an ever-widening group of enterprises that have a positive social impact. What they all have in common is that they either directly promote social...

5 Business Tasks That Can Be Outsourced

YOU ARE STILL RESPONSIBLE FOR SALES, ACCOUNTING, AND QUALITY CONTROL!

Focus on Sales As successful CPG global brand builders, we are often asked, “What is the biggest single mistake that new consumer product brand builders make?” Our answer is always the same, “They focus on production and not on sales!” Unfortunately, the first thing that goes...

Intrinsic Motivation is the Driving Force Behind Success in the Marketplace

I CAN DO THIS!

One of the most common questions our audiences ask is, “What keeps you going in the face of adversity, setbacks, and roadblocks?” They want to know what it takes to keep going - no matter what! Basically, they are looking for the ingredients of tenacity and...

5 Threats That Can Kill Your Brand in the New Year! – Part 4

Legal and Compliance

In most companies the legal department is referred to as “compliance.” However they do far more than make sure your company complies with the laws and regulations governing your industry. They protect you from liability exposures and potential lawsuits. They protect your intellectual property including trademarks,...

5 Threats That Can Kill Your Brand in the New Year! – Part 3

ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL

In this series, we have been discussing how to recognize the various ways your own people can inadvertently hurt your brand. Your company is ultimately only as valuable as your brand equity. Your brand equity is based on the likelihood that your branded products and services...

5 Threats That Can Kill Your Brand in the New Year! – Part 2

PRODUCTION

It’s hard to believe that your own team can damage your brand, but most brands are killed from self-inflicted wounds, not murdered by the competition. As you start out the New Year, be vigilant that your own people don’t take action that inadvertently hurts your brand....

5 Threats That Can Kill Your Brand in the New Year! – Part 1

MARKETING

We learned a lot about building an international brand during the two decades we grew Barefoot Wines. Most of it we learned the hard way, and that is why today we share our lessons in this blog devoted to brand building. Although we were successful, we...

Renew Your Brand Promise for the New Year

Renew Your Brand Promise for the New Year

This is a great time of year to renew your brand promise. Just like renewing vows in marriage, you recommit yourself to your brand promise. But unlike marriage vows, the promises are not yours. They’re the sum of your customers’ perceptions, expectations and beliefs about your...

The Brand Name That Says It All! Barefoot Bubbly Sells One Million Cases!

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

It was storming that night in 1996 when Michael slowly drove up the long dirt road that lead to his humble farmhouse in the rural hills of western Sonoma County. He was careful not to spin out in the mud nor get grabbed by the treacherous...

Brand Image Suffers When Products are Out of Stock

DON’T PLAY HARD TO GET

We are often asked, “What was the biggest challenge you faced growing the Barefoot Wine brand?” People are always surprised by our answer, “out-of-stocks.” It’s the biggest problem facing any new brand. Some purists try to make a distinction between brands and products, often because they...

Know the Metrics that Make Your Brand an Acquisition Target

WHERE AM I GOING AND WHY

We’ve often said that entrepreneurs are brand builders. Unlike sole proprietors, or even those creating a legacy, most entrepreneurs, sooner or later, want to have a capitalization event. That may take the form of a merger, IPO or cash infusion by a new partner, but it...

How to Recognize Opportunity (and Make It Sustainable)

KNOCK! KNOCK!

We often hear, “Follow your passion” as the universal prescription for happiness and success. But we say “Follow your opportunity, passionately” as a more plausible road to success. Opportunities abound! The key is to find a way to take advantage of them using your passion. So...

Successful Brand Builders Use Representatives to Insure Program Execution at Every Level

SEND MORE MERCHANDISING MATERIAL!

The best brand building signs and merchandising materials we ever saw were in the dumpsters of the very distributers who were expected to use them to sell the products of the brands they represented. What were they doing there? Because the distributers only had a limited...

The Norwegian Brand Promotes a Culture of Environmentalism

NORWAY IS THE CLEAN WAY

We are posting this blog from Norway where we came to support and present at the annual “Mixer” which supports entrepreneurialism at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. This is the largest technical university in Norway and has a robust entrepreneurial program...