Tag: business planning

Strategic Planning Workshop in Tbilisi, Georgia

Commissioned by the EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme, David delivered a Strategic Planning workshop in Tbilisi, Georgia. Working in partnership with the British Council in Georgia, David designed and delivered the workshop with Georgian expert Shorena Lortkipanidze. Workshop participants were leaders from the cultural industries and creative enterprises in Georgia. The strategic planning workshop …

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Creative Business Workshop at HUBBA Thailand

David delivered a creative business workshop for creative and digital entrepreneurs at HUBBA Thailand. His creative business workshop “Designing Your Creative Business” was attended by more than 30 creative businesses at the HUBBA workspace in Bangkok. David’s interactive workshop focused on business growth using appropriate business models that achieve success in terms defined by the …

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Marketing Strategy is ‘Invisible’

One of the reasons that strategic marketing is overlooked is because it’s not obvious; it’s not ‘in our faces’. Strategy is practically invisible to outsiders, because it is the thinking behind the scenes within businesses that we never get to see. Marketing strategy is invisible. What we do see, as consumers and observers of businesses, …

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not all customers are good customers

Strategic Marketing avoids Bad Customers

Not all customers are good customers! Strategic Marketing will avoid and deter bad customers. Customers can be bad customers for all sorts of reasons. They can be unprofitable or troublesome. They can waste your time or cause stress. Some interfere too much. Some aren’t worthy of including in your portfolio. Others pay late, or never. …

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Ten years of ‘T-Shirts and Suits’ book

The first edition of the book ‘T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity’ was published in the UK in November 2005 by Merseyside ACME in Liverpool. Since then, the book has been reprinted in a revised edition in the UK, published as an eBook in various formats, and published in translations in …

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Ansoff’s Matrix for Creative Business Development

Strategies for creative business development and growth using Ansoff’s Matrix (or Ansoff Matrix). [Note: this article was updated in a response to the COVID-19 Crisis. See updated article which includes a new ‘COVID-19 Diversification Matrix’, adapted from the Ansoff Matrix, to devise strategic responses to COVID-19.) When advising creative and digital businesses about strategic marketing …

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Devise a REAL Business Strategy

Most so-called “business strategies” are in reality just audacious goals and ambitious growth targets, bundled with a ‘vision of the future’, then packaged as a ‘business strategy’. Sadly, this is true for many design, media and technology companies. A REAL business strategy is different. A real business strategy is a clever solution to a particular …

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Create Your Own Business Formula

Don’t write a business plan until you have read this article! The article in English is reproduced in full below. It can also be downloaded as a PDF document in English and ten other languages. Creativity and Business Some people regard creativity and business as being like oil and water – they just don’t mix. …

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Blue Ocean Strategy

Creative, digital and cultural enterprises can radically improve their businesses using ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’. Advising a creative business in Spain, I suggested that they adopt a Blue Ocean Strategy. The company was working in a highly competitive marketplace, with many other businesses offering similar services. This meant that very often they were competing on price. …

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The ‘3Ms of Marketing’

The best way to illustrate the technique of using the 3Ms of Marketing most effectively is to use a true story. Julie, a jeweller, asked me for some marketing advice. With a limited budget for marketing communications, she couldn’t decide whether to invest in a better website or in a printed brochure to promote her …

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