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Yesterday I was talking to Gerard Burke, the director of Cranfield School of Management Business Growth and Development Programme (BGP), a programme I did last year and excellent, about the ’six behaviours of winners in a downturn’ it has identified. The credibility for the school doing this is that over 1000 ambitious owner managers have participated in BGP including many high profile entrepreneurs such as Angus Thirlwell of Hotel Chocolat (#1 in FastTrack 100), Lord (Karan) Bilimoria of Cobra Beer, Tristram Mayhew of GoApe (#71 in FastTrack 100), Lara Morgan of Pacific Direct, Charles Rigby of World Challenge Expeditions.

Gerard said to me: “Much has been made of the impact of the recession on small businesses.  Small businesses are the backbone of the UK economy and their owner managers are the unsung heroes.  It is well documented that, in developed economies, most of the jobs are created in smaller growing businesses.  So, it will be ambitious owner managers who pull us out of the current recession.”

Chameleon organised for Gerard to talk about the six behaviours on the Chris Evans show which you can click to hear by skipping to 1hr 31 minutes into the show. Here’s a summary of the behaviours:

1.  Be in control.  Rather than feel at the mercy of external forces that no-one can predict, Winners take control of their own destiny and know that they can continue to control what they do in their businesses.

2.  Be confident.  Winners will continue to articulate a clear and compelling vision of the medium to long term future.

3.  Be distinctive. Winners will be clear about the distinctive benefits their products/services bring to their customers and will hold fast to those distinctions rather than be forced to compete solely on price.

4.  Be strong.  Winners are absolutely rigorous in managing their business - focusing on the things that really matter, managing cash religiously, challenging costs and waste, making immediate bottom line improvements.

5.  Be wise.  Winners will continue to make wise investments in key actions and resources required for the future.

6.  Be ready.  Winners will be ready to seize the opportunities that others are too timid to spot.

Helen

Many people I know would love to shove us social media bores into a dark room encased in thick concrete. And for one day, they (and we) got their (and our) wish when Chameleon went to PR Week’s PR, Social Networking & Blogging in Practice conference at the Barbican Centre.

Speakers included some of the great and the good of the UK’s social media world including Kate Mackenzie from FT.com, Kevin Anderson from Guardian.com, Sara Gavin from Bebo and Roberto Hotal Munoz from More Th>n.

Amongst excited talk about Twitter, the difference between consumer ‘influence’ and ‘participation’ and of course, an Obama love-in (I don’t think there was one presentation that didn’t mention how fantastic Obama’s use of social media was), there were some incredible insights into what brands and marketers are doing with social media. Here are some selected highlights:

-          ‘Google is not a search engine anymore. It’s a Reputation Management Engine’ (Roberto Hortal Munoz, More Th>n)

-          ‘Social networks are like the best pub in the world. People have had a few drinks, are chatting away to each other and showing each other videos on their mobile phones’ (Laila Takeh, British Heart Foundation, on how she describes social networking to her peers)

-          ‘Don’t be the dad on the dance floor’ (Tony Bilsborough, Cadbury’s, on why Cadbury’s resisted direct engagement of Bring Back Wispa groups on Facebook and took a more permission-based approach)

-          ‘Social Media facilitates a nation talking to itself’ (Kevin Anderson, Guardian.com)

-          ‘Kids are now searching for videos on YouTube rather than Googling so they can see something in action rather than just reading about it’ (Alex Balfour, LOCOG, on the importance of video content from any source – not just professionally created-sources)

The important message from the conference was that as marketers, we need the right tone for our social media-savvy audiences. Avoid the temptation to jump in with both feet and monitor the conversations before you engage to ensure you’re using the right approach. With these simple considerations, you can avoid being the ‘dad on the dancefloor’.

Adrian

The US awakes today with a big hangover from last night’s celebrations following the first black president, Barack Obama’s, inauguration. Earlier this week, Manchester City fans woke with a hangover but from drowning their sorrows after the deal to capture Kaka, now valued as the world’s most expensive midfield footballer, unsurprisingly fell through.

Much has been made of Barack Obama’s campaign and its use of online media. Yesterday Twitter, the microblogging service, stuttered as many of its 6 million users posted comments live as the inauguration happened, many watching the ceremony live online. From posts berating the religious overtones of the event and mocking the music choice to quoting favourites snippets of Obama’s speech and praising how cool and calm he was, with the weight of history bearing down on him. Posts were tagged #inaug09 so Twitterers could easily search out conversations around Obama.

And that’s the point, talk around a person, product or company online is what matters now. The more people talk, the easier people will be able to find information on the brand online and so the greater your brand awareness and value.

It doesn’t matter that the Man City deal for Kaka fell through. What matters for the club/company/brand is the conversation around the story. It would be great to know the £value of all the online coverage that the draft deal created for City. As a football fan whether you like or hate the club’s ”statement of intent”, like Obama’s, it certainly got everyone talking.

Daniel