Delaney Tosh's blog

We have been having a lot of conversations with businesses, teams and their leaders, about engagement, disengagement and the link between team culture and a company’s or team’s ability to be innovative…or just productive.  Top of mind is the competitive business environment and how a team can be not just responsive, but out-pace competitive pressures in the marketplace. 

Part two in a series of conversations between Tanya Ney, Rockland System Solutions, and Delaney Tosh, The Surge Group, about Government 2.0 and the culture, technology and innovation the success and sustainability of a Government 2.0 initiative.

This is the first in a series of conversations between Tanya Ney, Rockland System Solutions, and Delaney Tosh, The Surge Group, about Government 2.0 and the culture, technology and innovation that a successful launch of a sustainable Government 2.0 initiative requires.

In my previous post on allocating your online marketing efforts, I talked about how online marketing can be a source of marketing research (inbound marketing), but warned of tightening privacy legislation protecting consumers' privacy.  Here I outline the risks of social media marketing and how to set policies to mitigate those risks.

In the previous post on Inbound Marketing versus Outbound Marketing, we discussed that Inbound Marketing isn't necessarily your online tactics, but actually the program of gathering marketing research to facilitate effective product development.  Your online marketing can serve as an effective means for gathering this marketing information.  So let's talk about Online Marketing:

I will always stress this point:  any marketing tactic should be considered against your overall strategy and your overall strategy is an alignment with your values and purpose, as a business, as a team, as individuals.   Or is it?  When you engage in the hyped up tactics of the day - those so called silver bullets of marketing - are you leaving your values at the door and eroding the value for your customers? 

What a marvellous thought -- that my business strategy doesn't have to be focused on what I sell or be focused on the bottom line, but rather, can be about happiness.

The consensus in the research literature is that management and leadership are different. Managers control and supervise, while leaders inspire towards an appealing vision. Both functions are necessary in the right places, at the right times.

The question is can the mantle of manager and leader be effectively worn by the same person? Can one person be a manager and leader at the same time? Should she be?

Your beliefs about your company’s purpose and the role of marketing can explain the ability of your business to thrive in difficult times. Commit to a genuine customer-centric philosophy whereby you successfully tap into your customers’ deepest desires and satisfy their emerging needs and you will have an authentic brand with staying power.