Taking a dose of our own medicine

Barbers with bad haircuts... graphic designers with hideous business cards... circus clowns who cry themselves to sleep. Business consultants who haven’t written a blog post in nine months and whose Twitter account looks a few birds short. 

Over the past year we’ve worked with our outstanding partners at kglobal to help defense companies diversify into the commercial sector. A key component of our value proposition is that of offering external, objective expertise and facilitation to help clients who find themselves amidst the swirling stress of change. The precise nature of each engagement depends upon each company’s specific needs, but tends to involve issues related to strategic planning, business processes, and sales & marketing activities. Inevitably, the latter category touches upon the importance of messaging and branding, to include social media activity. 

When companies appear to have initiated social media accounts or blogs without levying an adequate level of upkeep, one (or more) of several usual suspects tends to apply: the company lacks a clear purpose or strategy for its social media activity; the company’s social media “champion" has left the organization; or social media activity as a task loses a daily competition with other business priorities.

We’ll plead guilty to door number three. And throw in a side order of “analysis paralysis,” in which the desire to get something juuuuuust right can prevent you from getting something accomplished at all. So what would we tell one of our clients who made such an admission?

1. It’s OK. Unless you expect your social media activity to serve as a direct source of business leads, you likely haven’t caused any damage that can’t be undone. At worst, this aspect of your business might appear a bit rudderless to external audiences, and/or you’re telegraphing that you have some bandwidth challenges.
2. Fix it. Pick your metaphor: Jump in the pool; get back on the horse; start posting again. (OK, that last one was literal.)
3. Stick to your strategy. In our case, this means worrying less about the particulars of any one post. We didn’t intend to reserve this space solely for mind-blowing, critical insights about international affairs, intelligence community challenges, or analytic methodologies. We simply want to share what we’re thinking. What we’re doing. What we read or heard and found interesting. So we’re going to analyze our thoughts a bit less, and shoot from the hip a bit more.

In addition to providing expertise and guidance, our diversification assistance serves as a forcing function for our clients. Everyone is a little more motivated to get something accomplished when they know someone is watching — hence this post. This is our internal client self telling our external consultant self that we get it and we’re ready to fix it.

But the barbers and the clowns are on their own.

Sometimes the best defense is diversified

Simon Everett has been supporting kglobal, a DC-based communications firm, on an innovative grant program aimed at helping defense firms diversify in anticipation of declining defense spending. Two of South Carolina’s jobs agencies – the Department of Employment and Workforce and the Department of Commerce – are sponsoring an initiative to offer business consulting services to companies that will be negatively impacted by Department of Defense budget cuts.

kglobal (a Zenetex company) and Simon Everett have teamed to help these firms by conducting internal business assessments, identifying adjacent markets for targeted business development, and crafting strategic messaging initiatives to reach multiple stakeholder audiences. Our tailored suite of consulting services is helping SC-based defense firms to better understand and manage internal and external factors affecting the success of their approaches to new markets. As a result, South Carolina will improve its economic resilience and the defense sector will retain key capabilities and expertise for future needs.

We look forward to continuing our strategic partnership with kglobal and supporting additional SC firms in their diversification pursuits. To that end, South Carolina is still accepting grant applications. If your business operates in South Carolina and is interested in reaching new markets, just take two easy steps: 1) send us an email at inquiries@simon-everett.com, and 2) download the Defense Industry Adjustment Application from Commerce’s website to see if your company qualifies.

When design doesn't happen by design

Sometimes, new engagements develop in ways we don't anticipate. Earlier this summer, I was having a cup of coffee with the co-founder of Nisos Group, a corporate intelligence and security consultancy. The concept, he explained, is to provide both digital and human intelligence to help his clients protect and grow their businesses. Although we had planned to discuss potential opportunities for collaboration, the conversation soon turned to small business operations. “We’re looking for a partner to build our new website,” he said. “Who made yours?” When I told him that we had designed and built the site ourselves, he asked us if we would be interested in doing the same for his firm. Although web design was never part of our business plan, we saw an opportunity to tackle a fun, creative challenge and work with a bound-for-success start-up in the process.

Over the next couple of months, we worked closely with Nisos Group to build a minimalist but impactful website that captures the essence of its brand, vision, and capabilities. While we love the way the site looks, this engagement was much more about collaborating with our client to develop concepts that will enable and propel its business activities. Keep an eye out for Nisos Group as it continues to grow, and let us know what you think of the Nisos Group site!