PR and social media are still among some of the most cost effective marketing dollars a small to mid-size client can spend. It’s about building and capturing mindshare, coming across as a credible resource and a good interview. Stories that run can put a client on the map. We’re fortunate to work with clients who are fearless when it comes to giving interviews. The more interesting the answers, the more likely reporters and editors include them in the story. I have one client in particular who has been given a nickname by certain reporters who call when they want a strong opinion on an issue. Small and midsize clients benefit most from agencies that specialize in those clients. The larger agencies put their best talent on the larger accounts. Wouldn’t you rather have the best talent an agency can offer? Continue Reading»

"First, execution is valued orders of magnitude over talk and ideas. Second, try to be in the right place at the right time for your customer/ company. Third, move fast and try not to break stuff."

"Depending on your market opportunity, growth can occur from a variety of factors. However, to start growing fast I suggest focusing on four key principles: 1) solve a big, specific customer problem; 2) work at easily communicating your business value; 3) iterate often before making plans to expand your go-to-market base; and 4) take advantage of strategic partnerships to increase your market reach. Today’s companies are all connected in some way, and figuring out your place in this ecosystem is paramount to selecting the right partners and delivering a better experience for your end customers. For private companies, acting as a lone wolf doesn't work. The top players understand who their customers are and how to best serve them, which for private providers means creating a best-of-breed solution that solves targeted problems very well. Your solution can’t end there, however; you need to work on integrating it within existing ecosystems to offer customers access to a complete suite of best-of-breed solutions. The fact is that the majority of businesses, large and small, prefer a best of breed approach, so companies that create a strong product and tie it into an ecosystem with complementary products will experience very high growth potential. In short: to grow quickly, companies need to step back, identify and solve big problems and then develop potential partnerships that will drive the fastest growth to expand their customer base."

"First, define your market and test the market with a trial offering and variations of your offering to your target audience. Consider an offering that can scale and has a marketplace big enough to support it. Your product should meet a need, have a proper price/to value offering, and your company must have high customer service standards. Find and retain the right people that will allow you to scale, constantly refine processes for improved efficiency, and lastly, enjoy what you are doing - it will show and have a positive impact on both your employees and your clients."

"AMAX positions itself as a trustworthy manufacturing and solutions provider to our customers. AMAX’s strength is in engineering expertise and solution design. The technology industry is demanding the ability to build large-scale enterprise-ready solutions that are fully integrated on the hardware/software level and delivered turnkey, and AMAX is able to do this on a global scale. Growth comes from consistently delivering well-engineered and designed solutions targeting today’s specific IT and business requirements while maintaining the highest level of quality and performance."

"What promotes growth can vary significantly depending on your market. In any industry, what promotes growth is first and foremost having a vision for growth and executing on that vision. Long term growth in the engineering and manufacturing services market comes from organizations looking to build strategic partnerships to develop their new products or next generation products. To maintain and grow these strategic alliances, engineering and manufacturing services organizations’ must have a well-defined process that is easily articulated to clients and flawlessly executed upon. Continual growth is attributed to having the right resources on a project at the right time, doing good work for clients, and completing projects on-time and on budget."

"SADA places engineering, innovation and customer service at the core of our business model - we’re able to differentiate ourselves from other key players in the field of cloud computing by being the first to go to market with the solutions which address clients’ business needs and pain-points they may be experiencing. It’s key to stay ahead of the curve, while also focusing on execution and exceptional service."

"Enthusiasm and passion are the natural catalysts for growth, and every fast growing company I know has those two elements in abundance. If your employees have it, it leads to marketing and PR growth because you then have a company that can’t wait to interact with the broader market to validate the internal belief. If your customers have it the sales growth will also naturally follow, because the appetite that the marketing and PR efforts created can be easily converted to revenue because of the positive feedback from other customers. Moreover, we all know that enthusiasm is infectious; it’s the force-multiplier behind all other efforts, including recruiting, financing, and all other areas of company operations. My advice to fuel growth is to make sure you’re listening both inside and outside the company – if the passion and enthusiasm are lacking, dig deeper to find it. Without it achieving aggressive growth targets is much more difficult."

"Invest in the people. Creating a working environment that energizes and excites different types of people and allows for collaboration - whether it’s across departments or across the globe - is a necessity. It promotes employee success, innovation and growth, which in turn drives customer success and business growth. Furthermore, culture that is measurable is manageable, so take continual surveys of what cultural success looks like and share those best practices globally."

"Innovation & new products development - commitment to ongoing innovation is key success factor to growth. Being flexible to changes when they occur is another important factor. • Spotting new business opportunities- it’s crucial to always be on the lookout for the next best business opportunities."