As a kid like many young boys I grew up complete obsessed with and immersed in sports.

When you are child you play for the excitement and you revel in the accolades but little thought goes into the life lessons that are pounded into our young minds on the field of competition.

Sports and business philosophies are so closely tied that the vernacular is seamlessly interchangeable. Every corporate boardroom is filled with sports cliché and huddle up speeches. Every aspect of sports can become a situational metaphor for business situation and strategy.

Here are two things my coaches pounded into my subconscious that have helped me in my business life.

“keep your feet moving”

This was a common thread that I have heard from many of my coaches.  No mater what the situation is this mantra of momentum can help us all push through. As a hockey player I was always a bit undersized but my coach would repeat this mantra to me “keep your feet moving” by doing this I was able to out work and win over my larger opponents.

He would always say when the puck goes into the corner and you end up in a fight for the puck just keep your legs pumping. When you are up against the boards and you are in a scramble for the puck it is important to not dig in and push. Rather get low and keep your feet moving.

By keeping your momentum up and driving through your base you can out work even larger and stronger opponents. But if you dig in hunker up and just push you become static predictable and week and you will ultimately lose the battle.

This is an important reminder to every entrepreneur because day in and day out with a small business you find your self up against the boards fighting for a loose puck. In theses tough economic times business are continually fighting for fewer customers against larger and stronger players but if you keep the wheels turning and you stay focused on the object ahead you can drive through.

So remember when it gets tough don’t hunker up, close your eyes and push. Instead get low, keep your head up and drive your legs. “Keep those feet moving” and if you are looking forward that is where you will end up

“Highest hips win”

When I wrestled we had this whacky old coach that every time you went to the mat he would yell in cattle call reminiscent tone “hips, hips”

Our coach would always say when ever you where in a scramble on the matt the wrestler with the highest hips would win. So every time we where in the down position or we where trying to escape he would start yelling “hips, hips”

In business when you are in a scramble work towards driving your business core up. Don’t rely on a periphery function an arm or a leg, rather leverage the core of your business and the rest of your business functions will follow rapidly. If you can get your core elevated quicker than your competitors you will win out over the competition.

Tags: Highest Hips Win, Keep Your Feet Moving, Sports in Business.

Here at Zella Design as we approach our 1^st anniversary I have come to a fast realization. As much as it pains me to say it, the service quality at Zella Design has been lacking, we have been neglecting a very important client. We have been neglecting Zella Design.

There is saying in business that small business owners, consultants and entrepreneurs throw around all the time “be your own best client”.

But as much as that phrase is repeated there seems to be an old truism that when it comes to service side businesses we are notorious for being our own worst client. We always say, “practice what you preach” and “eat your own cooking” but time after time the internal needs of a company fall by the way side.

My father a long time small business owner and artist always jokes with me about how the roofers, roof always leaks or how the mechanic’s car is broken down. These seem like simple ironies but the truth is that when you spend so much time dedicating your companies resources and energy to servicing you clients needs above and beyond expectations the first thing that suffers is your companies personal needs.

I have seen this all too many times in my personal and consulting experience and I am ashamed to say that I am currently guilt of that very thing here at Zella. So this is a personal reminder to my self and the staff here at Zella Design as well as to all of our loyal clients and small business owners nation wide, remember to give your company some love. It is not enough to work in your business you need to work on your business. Show your own company the same dedication and performance that you service your clients with and your business will continue to grow.

So to insure that here at Zella  “we eat what the kitchen is cooking” we have declared a host off new features and dedications that will allow Zella to continue to grow and flourish in our second year of business

Zella Design is currently in the process of updating our web site! Look for the new site to launch mid august. With our web site launch Zella Design will be offering some exciting new features to help our clients improve their online marketing.

Until than our blog is back in full swing after a brief hiatus (due to a virus on wordpress) so look for new content and articles in the next few days.

And remember do not neglect your own business, the way your business treats it self is a vital component of your business brand so take some time every week and put some of your love back into your business. In order for your business to be successful you need to put in the time doing the things necessary to grow your business.

Right now is the perfect time to focus some of your business resources and time back into your business. With the slow economy many businesses are cutting back employee hours due to declining workloads.

This might not be the best solution. Rather than cutting hour’s redirect your employees down time towards functions that will help move your business towards its long-term goals. Getting your employees involved in marketing, sales and lead generation can be a great way to build moral and avoid layoff’s or cutting your employees hours activities that are sure to lead to reduced employee moral.

Here are five things you can do to reenergize your business

1)    Start a blog: this is a great way to put content creation in your companies’ hands. If you are too busy to write consider allowing knowledgeable employees to publish content.

2)    Social media: developing and maintaining a social media presence can be a great way to connect with customers and build product awareness

3)    Update directories: update your director listings and Google local listings. This simple task can help you rank better and get more leads

4)    Update your web site: when was the last time you updated your site? Get some fresh content for your customers. Dedicate your self to revising one page a week. In no time you will have your site looking fresh and full of information.

5)    Get Personal: Spend some time connecting with your customers and employees. Spend some face time listening to their needs, who knows what gems you might find hiding in some one else’s words.

Tags: be your own best client, improve your business, update your business.

The “cheap chic” marketing machine of target has come out with a novel idea for this holiday season. Instead of just giving a thoughtless gift card how about giving a gift card that is a gift it’s self! Sound confusing?

Target recently introduced the new Target Digital Camera Gift Card ($50-$1000). This is the Hybrid of the retail world. The gift card features a 1.2 mega pixel camera that holds 50 pictures. The camera / card comes with a USB cord, driver disc and voucher for 40 free prints at Target.

The gift card works the same as all other gift cards you chose how much store credit you want to load on to the card ranging from $50 to $1,000 of store credit.

This is a great idea to help spark lagging retail sales during the holiday season. The camera is fairly useless but it offers a fun cool factor that is sure to attract attention to the otherwise boring gift card.

From a marketing standpoint this move makes a lot of sense for the retail chain.

1.) It is a novel concept that is sure to attract attention and excitement.

2.) Encourages shoppers to purchase gift cards and it will also entice gift card purchasers to up their spend to a minimum of $50 so they can get the camera.

3.) It empowers the lazy gift givers, it is a simple holiday gift solution that keeps the giver from looking like a thoughtless shopper.

4.) It is cool ideas that will attract lots of word of mouth and positions target as a hip creative innovator in their market further differentiating Target in the minds of consumers from the relic Wal-Mart. This is a strong move since Wal-Mart has attempted to re-energize their brand with a more positive, youthful look. Their new logo looks remarkably similar to Targets. And their new tagline: Save money. Live better seems inspired by Targets tagline: Expect more. Pay less.

We will see if this gift card campaign is successful as we approach the holidays.

But it feels like this trend of incorporating utility into gift cards is going to carry on. I could see a company like Apple jumping on this trend with an IPod gift card hybrid. With the high priced items in an apple store they could justify the cost of a music playing gift card. With a minimum spend starting at $300 dollars or so.

I am sure Jobs is already on this and if not Steve better give me a shout out on this one!

Tags: Apple, Digital Camera Gift Card, Retail Sales, Target one ups Wal-Mart, Targets New Gift Card.

MySpace is targeting small business with this week’s release of MyAds a low-cost do-it-yourself advertising tool. MyAds allows small businesses to target the social networking giants 122 million users worldwide.

Users of MyAds will be able to create their own banner ads to display in targeted marketing campaigns ranging in price from $25 to $10,000 dollars.

Ads will be targeted at MySpace viewers based on the selected target audience of your choice, markets are segmented based on age, sex, location and the expressed interests of MySpace users.

MyAds provides a simple process, you design your ads using pre-made templates, select the campaigns target audiences, designate a budget, and plan a display schedule and you are done. You can then track the performance of your campaign on MyAds using real time-analytics.

So what does this mean for small businesses?

Jeff Berman, president of sales and marketing at MySpace feels that “MySpace MyAds is a direct marketer’s dream-providing entrepreneurs with the most accessible, personalized, and targeted advertising toolkit in the market,”

MySpace is a very tantalizing advertising platform that will give small business the ability to connect with specific niche markets easily and effectively. MyAds could make a good addition to your current on-line marketing mix.

MySpace MyAds

Tags: MyAds, MySpace, On-line Media.

Throughout our daily grind we all feel a bit struck for creativity. We long for those ethereal moments of clarity when creativity pours like a fountain of great ideas. The rest of the time we fight and work to conjure up the mere taste of a unique and unconfined idea.

Scientist have developed and are now testing a “thinking cap” that might be the key to unlocking the repressed creative genius with in all of us.

The device is a hairnet like cap that uses tiny magnetic pulses to change the way the brain functions. Wearing the cap for just a few minutes has been shown to improve artistic ability and proof-reading skills.

The theory is that the cap uses transcranial magnetic stimulation to suppress the left side of the brain, the side that is generally associated with whole ideas and logic. This temporarily allows details from the right side of the brain our creative side, to flow unfiltered into our direct consciousness allowing us to tap our inner creativity. The effects of this stimulation and the heightened state of creativity that comes with it only lasts for about an hour.

Renowned Researcher and Professor Allan Snyder believes the experiments show we all have hidden talents, we just have trouble tapping into them.

Imagine if every office had a few thinking caps lying around even the left-brain dominant analytical types would be thinking out of the box. Of course we don’t have thinking caps yet but this article reminds us that we need to on occasion look past logic in the hopes of basking in the inner creativity that lives within all of us. 

Tags: Creativity, Thinking Cap.

Recent negotiations between Yahoo and Goggle have lead to a pending partnership. Yahoo will now host Google adwords within its own search engine.

Yahoo will continue to display its own paid search advertisements right next to Google’s ads. An interesting juxtaposition that is sure to cause some initial confusion.

A statement released by Yahoo estimates that the union would bring in an additional $800 million in ad revenue annually. Google and Yahoo will share the revenue generated from the partnership, which is estimated to produce $250 million to $450 million in operating cash flow for Yahoo in year one.

This partnership is sure to increase Google’s preeminence in the search advertising market while increasing the reach of Google’s brand. Google already has a similar ad agreement with AOL and Ask.com.

A Yahoo/Google ad merger has some interesting implications for search marketers. The reach of Google adwords will be greatly increased and the possibilities for reaching new market segments all in one application is a nice benefit, but all of this is going to come with a cost. The pay per click and pay per impression cost of ads will increase due to the rising demand for Google’s ad services.

This move comes at an opportune time for both companies. With the current financial crisis and rapidly declining stock values both companies are sure to benefit from the increased cash flow. But this move is especially important for Yahoo because it will help Yahoo retain their current customer base and help revive the declining usage of Yahoo’s SERP (search engine results page) and allow them to survive in the market place with out a Microsoft buyout.

Anti-trust concerns have been waged. However, most analysts contend that the deal will withstand regulatory inspection. Until committee approval is reached Yahoo and Google have voluntarily delayed the agreement.

I guess in the end sharing is caring. 

Tags: Adwords, Google, Merger, search marketing, Yahoo.