All business needs routine and whilst for some that means comfort, security, peace of mind and stability, for many others it strikes fear into their hearts. For some of us it makes us feel cold, staid, inert and we avoid it as best we can. Frankly, though we all have routine in our lives whether we like it or not, even if its the weekly shop! But perhaps we need to change its focus.

Routine, possibly a sequence of actions followed on a regular basis or perhaps its a fixed program of action. We’ve associated it with audits, stock takes, appraisals, paperwork, filing, accounts, team meetings and thats where it has got its poor reputation. In fact, its time to change its perception. Stop seeing it as negative, a necessary evil and something to procrastinate about.

Instead, see the positive aspects of your business and do them routinely. Innovation should be routine, product development should follow a strict program, talking and influencing your top 20% of customers should be organised in a routinely fashion. Even creating time to think should be built into any routine. Oh and excitement, enjoyment, inspiration and fun needs to routinely happen too.

Routine doesn’t need to be associated with the boring, mundane or dull. In fact, its essential to build it into the most influential parts of your business as well.

Great four minute talk by Richard St John…just a little reminder! Some interesting comments posted too!

http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_st_john_success_is_a_continuous_journey.html

You’ve got to be in it to understand it. Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein have done a good job of this. If you are looking to expand your understanding of what Twitter is all about, this is a good buy. It takes you through starting a Twitter account right through to improving what you do. Its a great book for the starter or relatively newcomer like me. I’ve applied some of the techniques and have significantly grown my followers. Organically, of course.

A word of caution, the book is very much tactical and doesn’t touch on the strategy of social media and Twitter. It puts the business case across in one chapter but things are developing on that front so quickly it would be difficult to keep up with printed matter anyway.

It was interesting being at an online marketing show yesterday and seeing the traditional ways of marketing still in abundance. In fact, it was a little like being on holiday in Greece, being hassled on the street to go into a particular restaurant for dinner! You know what I mean. It all smacked like desperation, with some of the people on the stands looking a shade bemused and uncomfortable. The two seminars I attended were a similar experience.

Too much sameness, no distinction between products and over hyped sales pitches do nothing for an industry supposedly at the forefront of marketing tactics. This one just stunk! Promotional pens, pencils, stress balls, sweets and highlighter pens are so 80’s I felt embarrassed. Our attention is so much more valuable now than it was five years ago because we have become so much more savvy about what we pay attention to. You need to do more than just free gifts…..blowing my mind with useful information would have been far more inspiring!

Old style sales and marketing died years ago. Some exhibitors will argue that they got a ROI, but was it the right ROI - return on influence, Chris Brogan and Julien Smiths point. Brogan and Smith argue that ‘attention is currency,’ they are right. There was little to grab the attention of business out there. Too much like any other exhibition, seminars not cutting edge enough, too sales pitch orientated and no where near enough ‘wow’ factors.

Perhaps the online sector is moving into just another form of marketing (which it is) mode having been around a while now. The important thing is not to fall into the same tactics that throw out little differentiation, compete on price and add no or little value. I wasn’t left wanting a little more from the day…I was left wanting a load lot more and significantly disappointed!

Sometimes someone in a short 11 pages or so, puts together a paper that gets you thinking about how business will be in the future, or what your customers will expect. Download the Trust Economies by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith for some interesting points on building trust and how we must influence people in the future.

http://www.changethis.com/44.04.TrustEconomy

In London at the moment at the Online Marketing Show. Last night whilst waiting for a friend, I bobbed into a wine merchants. Okay it wasn’t your ordinary Oddbins but it did prove that you can put customer experience into practice, by hell you can.

Apart from the outstanding courtesy and respect that was afforded me, I now know about:

1. Sulphites and how they affect wine making

2. Bio Dynamic Agriculture - this was a new one on me, fascinating!

3. How fragile wine making is and why its considered an art, a craft and a vocation

I came away with a modestly priced bottle of wine, yet had my experience enriched because the guy who served me believed it was his job to educate someone who appreciates wine (I’m obviously getting to that age) but who doesn’t really know the first thing about wine production and how it impacts on what I buy. I couldn’t get away. Absolutely fabulous, it cost them nothing. Just shows what you can do, if you make sure you have the time…actually you really can’t afford not to.

This is a great post considering that it is all about us! Definately worth a read if you work for yourself or are considering it!

http://www.boalt.com/blog/2009/06/why-sometimes-it-is-about-you/

Caffe Nero’s in Exeter is my second office, after the train and my desk at home like a lot of people. Most mornings I’m there getting my caffeine hit, I’ve noticed a group of individuals having coffee together. Turns out they meet everyday before work to chat and discuss the previous days events.

They didn’t know each other before Caffe Neros opened. They met queuing for coffee and have done ever since. After they finish they go their separate ways to do a hard days work and the session is repeated the next day!

Nothing new here you say. Well perhaps before the café culture hit the UK this would not have happened. Its only 10 – 12 years old but whats significant is that this isn’t any different to groups of people conversing on the internet, its just a different way of connecting. Okay you might have your own coffee and you may not have eyeballed the person you have been having a debate with on the latest developments in politics, but you are still having a conversation whilst online. So why is that so scary for some people?

Sharing conversations on the internet is just another form of communication and small business need to treat it like that. Understanding it and taking part in it makes it a lot less fearful. By the way, Caffe Nero have started to create a community. My bet is they haven’t realised this yet and therefore can’t do anything to encourage and embrace it. Shame!

It’s not about old versus new, or tradition versus innovation or, creativity instead of convention and slow versus fast. It’s actually about combining the them and understanding how they add value to your business. No one should drop the conventional way of doing things overnight without thinking about how they are going to develop a culture of creativity. Nor, should anything be banished to the dungeons of the company just because it ain’t trendy anymore without careful consideration.

There is a danger in abandoning everything we know. Things are definitely changing, more rapidly than we ever imagined and it will only get quicker. But sometimes, it’s the traditional things you do that make you different and sometimes even better. Occasionally, it’s very important to go slow, very slow. Change the pace of things and issues look very different.

Retaining some of the old stuff can be just as significant as embracing the new way of doing things. The important point to know is how they impact, which ones to keep and develop and which new ideas you need to go full pelt at. Is what you are doing good enough and what is missing?

This is a great article from Smashing Magazine, presenting advice on how to avoid poor design! Common sense and provides an insight into what makes great design in business.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/25/10-common-mistakes-in-logo-design/#comment-361300