Inspiring Your Authentic Week

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 10:41 PM PDT

One of the biggest advantages of authentic business is the support that you get from others.

A regular business that seeks to redistribute wealth from the population and the environment to a few senior executives and shareholders is, effectively, in competition with everyone. With it's focus on profit it is always competing with staff, customers and suppliers to make as much as possible. Many staff end up finding that working to make someone else rich is not completely motivating.

Authentic businesses generate their profit, through the pursuit of a profound and positive purpose. The purpose inspires and motivates staff, customers and others to support the business and generate profits. The profits provide the resources to more effectively pursue the purpose in a virtuous spiral of growth.

Profit is a by product of the pursuit of purpose. So far so good, BUT, although having a positive and inspiring purpose gives a business many fantastic advantages it absolutely does not replace the need for good business discipline.

Costs must still be carefully managed. Strategy must be excellent and efficiently pursued. Leadership needs to engage and motivate. Management needs to focus and deliver and key messages need to be communicated clearly and to the right audience.

Henry Ford famously said that he knew that only half of his marketing worked, he just didn't know which half. Marketing is a complex area and becoming more complex. The internet, social media and now mobile have transformed the communication landscape, making it massively more interactive and changing most of the rules.

For authentic businesses the starting point is your profound and positive purpose and your vision for how your company will make a difference and add value. These need to be articulated concisely, precisely and inspiringly.

Once articulated they need to be shared as efficiently as possible, with the right people. Getting this communication right requires a dedicated and excellent team, or three. One for PR - managing your communication through the media. One for advertising - creating and managing your paid for advertising. One for managing your online communication including web site, social media and possibly online advertising (if this in not done by your advertising team). Maybe another for your sponsorship programme.

These teams may be in house or external agencies, what is really crucial is how you choose the right people for the job. The traditional pitching model, is desperately inefficient for all concerned and often a very poor way of choosing.

As an authentic business, one of the key considerations is alignment, you need to be working with people who are completely aligned with your message and purpose.

Start by doing some research, who, in your broad market is doing great communication? How are they doing it? Is it in house or with agencies? If they are using an agency - you can start by talking to them.

What you are looking for, above all else is a relationship where communication is easy, where you understand each other and where you get on well.

If they do great work for someone else, you get on well with them and you are aligned in terms of purpose, the chances are you will get great results. No pitches, just do a deal.

For businesses where you need to do the job in house there is a great deal to learn. On this weeks Authenticis, authentic business radio show we will be talking authentic marketing with Chantal Cooke of PR Demystified and Nicole Pukala of Pukala Consulting.

Join us on our Authentic Business Radio show every Thursday at 5pm UK, 6pm Euro or 12.00 EST. This week we will be discussing "Shout from the rooftops"

I am planning an Open Authentic Leadership event in Mallorca in October, with 15 - 20 places available. You can find out a lot more about the course here. If you are interested please let me know so I can gauge numbers for the hotel.

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With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+34 646391384
neil@neilcrofts.com
www.neilcrofts.com
Skype - neilcrofts