RUTH’S BLOG
Female Entrepreneurs
Embracing women’s natural advantages and overcoming their natural challenges
Many of the 52 female entrepreneurs I interviewed for my latest book, ‘Female Entrepreneurs – The Secrets of Their Success,’ talked about leveraging the natural advantages that women have when building a business. These included: Ability to multi-task Whether true...
Changing society for the better
John Smythe and Ruth Saunders have written ‘Female Entrepreneurs – The Secrets of Their Success’ to encourage society to recognise and embrace the huge value that female entrepreneurs bring to our economy. Female entrepreneurship is growing at a faster rate than...
Changing the corporate world for the better
I wrote ‘Female Entrepreneurs – The Secrets of Their Success’ with co-author John Smythe, to encourage the Government, the corporate world, particularly investors, and society as a whole to recognise and embrace the huge value that female entrepreneurs bring. Below...
Staying sane along the entrepreneurial journey
Ruth Saunders co-wrote the book ‘Female Entrepreneurs – The Secrets of Their Success’ to help every woman who has set up their own entrepreneurial business to enjoy the journey. The 52 female entrepreneurs had a number of reflections on how to stay sane along the...
Scaling up your business successfully
I co-wrote my latest book ‘Female Entrepreneurs – The Secrets of Their Success’ to encourage every woman who has set up an entrepreneurial business to decide if they have the desire and capabilities to scale up – as well as offer wisdom and insights on how to do it....
Overcoming the challenges of building a business
‘Female Entrepreneurs – The Secrets of Their Success’ was written to help every woman who has set up their own entrepreneurial venture to be successful. Many of our 52 female entrepreneurs talked about the challenges they faced when building a business – with many...
Setting your business up for success
I wrote ‘Female Entrepreneurs – The Secrets of Their Success’ to help every woman who has dreamt of being an entrepreneur to set up a successful entrepreneurial business. Below are some nuggets of advice from the 52 female entrepreneurs featured in the book on what to...
Taking The Entrepreneurial Leap
My most recent book, ‘Female Entrepreneurs – The Secrets of Their Success’ was written to encourage every woman who has dreamt of being an entrepreneur but hasn’t yet taken the leap to take the first steps towards realising their dreams – as well as every woman who...
Leadership
Qualitative Research Robust Enough to Trust
When I worked in consumer goods companies, any major brand decisions were supported by robust quantitative research that proved the case for change. But in some situations, quantitative research is not feasible or optimal. For example, whenthe customer base is small...
Dealing With Senior Manager Ego
Under Attack In some presentation meetings, senior managers act aggressively, asking challenging questions. They overtly challenge the findings and recommendations, and making it clear that they are not in agreement with what is being proposed. The senior manager ego...
Answering Challenging Questions
How can you prepare to answer those challenging questions that some senior managers throw at you during your presentation meetings? When they start to quetsion your rationale, financials or business case, do you get defensive or waffle? The answer is to help them engage and problem-solve ..
Eye On The Bulls-Eye – Handling Presentation Nerves
I am by nature an introvert, someone who is both shy and thus anxious about saying the wrong thing, and who hates being the star of the show – I have presentation nerves. In the past, I have tried to overcome my presentation nerves by writing and learning a tight script.
Power of 3 – When One Is Not Enough
One Is Often Not Enough In business, we’re trained to make decisions logically, rationalising the benefits of a business proposal using a compelling recommendation supported by a robust business case. Often a single business meeting to review a commercial, credible,...
Dealing With Challenging Senior Managers
Dealing with challenging senior managers Some senior managers can be quick to give their agreement when presented to, whilst others can be slow to be convinced. They might overtly challenge the recommendations and supporting fact base, or ask new questions that...
Dealing With Aggressive Senior Managers
Being aggressively challenged by a senior manager can be a highly uncomfortable, disconcerting and demotivating experience, particularly if it happens in front of others. It can be tough to handle at the time and can leave us cold afterwards. Learn from my experience and insights..
Marketing Strategy
Qualitative Research Robust Enough to Trust
When I worked in consumer goods companies, any major brand decisions were supported by robust quantitative research that proved the case for change. But in some situations, quantitative research is not feasible or optimal. For example, whenthe customer base is small...
Build Brand Trust in a Covid World
Covid is on track to be the great accelerator, creating a high level of disruption that will change the way we behave forever. So, now more than ever, it’s important for marketers to assess whether their brand is behaving in a trustworthy way today and whether they...
Choosing ‘where’ to market
Why choose 'where' to market When it comes to ‘where’ to market a brand, it’s important to sell through sales channels that make the brand both visible and accessible to people in a way that is easy to engage with and purchase. Otherwise, it’s likely to get lost in...
Choosing ‘when’ to engage people
Why choose ‘when' to engage people When choosing “when” to talk with people, marketers should optimize their marketing ROI by focusing their spend on those high-impact touch points and messages that have the greatest influence. Entrepreneurs understand the value of...
Choosing ‘why’ to be in business
Getting people’s attention can be tough. Getting them to convert their attention into action can be even tougher. A strong brand purpose helps companies define what business they’re in, which customers they are targeting and what they are offering them to better meet their needs.
Choosing ‘what’ to support
To be successful, companies should choose which brands and products to support – and importantly which not to support – with the aim of focusing their scarce resources on those that will deliver the greatest return for the company today,
Choosing ‘who’ to target
When thinking about which customers to target, companies should not try to please everyone. Instead, they should focus their scarce resources on attracting and retaining those customers who will deliver the greatest return for the company
Choosing ‘where’ to play
Marketing is vital to helping companies deliver the innovation and compelling brand positionings needed for growth. For the Board to invest, they need to demonstrate where to focus and how to build shareholder value and profitable returns.