"So," continued Melinda on the phone, "would it be fair to say that it's over?"
"I think so," responded Beth, "But I want you to know that I really appreciate the fact you've been so diligent in getting back to me the past month."
"This may sound like a dumb thing to ask, but I just want to be clear …" she waited for a response.
"Go ahead, it probably isn't dumb."
"You and I are not going to do any business, correct?"
Do you sometimes hear yourself say 'yes' to a project when you know should really be saying 'no'? Do you sometimes feel that you are drowning in work and stress, yet feel fearful and hesitant to speak to your managers about it? Have you ever been in a group of confident people and struggled to express your views, as you doubted the merit of your contribution?
If you do, you are not alone. Recent studies show that organisational leaders who come across as low or high in assertiveness tend to be seen as less effective. Leaders in the middle may have an "optimal" level of assertiveness, but the majority of leaders are on the extremes. The research suggests that being seen as under- or over-assertive may be the most common weakness among espiring leaders.
Studies reveal that at an organisational level, possessing the optimum level of assertiveness is evaluated as a key trait of effective leaders – be they middle managers or top level executives. Leaders who come across as low or high in assertiveness tend to be seen as less effective, according to a study that came out in the February 2007 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA). These leaders are unable to motivate their teams in achieving the company goals and sustaining their competitive edge – a particularly dangerous impact during a tougher economic climate.
It's no secret that the power of advertising has waned drastically over the years. But why is it that advertising still work well for some brands, and why are there brands that don't require much advertising to sell well?
Both questions have the same answer – these brands have built such a strong credibility with their target consumers that it takes little convincing for consumers to do business with them. But this did not happen by chance. The brands had taken a concerted effort in marketing their credibility on top of marketing their products and services.
However, when we look into our marketing plans, rarely do we find a clear strategy on how we are going to market our credibility. Most business owners leave this to chance, hoping that the quality of their products will speak for the brand's credibility. In today's highly cluttered market place, this is going to take a long time to happen, if it ever does happen.
Writing articles for online newsletters, blogs and websites can be a low cost, effective and powerful way of marketing via the Internet.
Writing for the Web, however, is quite different from writing for other formats. For example readers tend to scan texts more. Often one search can uncover a number of relevant or not relevant articles instantly. The reader must then sift through and find the appropriate ones quickly, offering little time to actually read your article unless it passes the initial scan.
Determining keywords is a critical step in writing articles online for effective marketing strategy. If your twitter posts, articles, blog, eZine, or website do not contain related keywords, surfers will be unable to find your articles when they conduct searches.
To greenwash can be described as an act that misleads or conceals. If an organisation has abused the environment in any way that is harmful and it then puts out misleading information to the contrary, or hides the truth in any way, it can be partaking in an act of greenwashing. Equally, if an organisation is seen as being insincere in its concem for the environment then it will be seen as being involved in greenwashing.
This is the equivalent of political 'spin', especially when green 'credentials' are used for another purpose, typically cost reduction or a profit hike. Often money is spent on marketing communications tools such as advertising or packaging/labelling and used to give the impression that an organisation, product or brand is good to the environment.
Greenwash (sometimes hogwash or environmental whitewash) has bean described as being socially and environmentally destructive in the business arena, being brought in by organisations posing as friends of the environment but also leaders in the eradication of starvation and poverty. The term 'bluewash' has been coined to describe the act of allowing large and rich corporations, who do nothing new, to wrap themselves in the blue flag of the United Nations in order to be seen as being a humanitarien world citizen.