The increasing rise in popularity of various web-based images and videos (often referred to as “memes”) has led many companies to wonder how they can capitalize on that virality. What were once underground jokes have become fodder for corporate marketing on an enormous scale. One need only turn to the latest craze, the "Harlem Shake", to get a good idea of the scale of meme-based corporate cash-in.

Regarding the popularity of the Harlem Shake, TechCrunch recently released an article attempting to explore the various elements that make the meme so popular. Looking at such elements as length of time and number of performers, they concluded that the Shake, specifically, matches the criteria for viral sharing. However, a quick glance at YouTube proves that simply matching that formula isn't enough. Nearly every Harlem Shake video follows it exactly, yet only a few have reached true viral status.

What is the missing element? As far as companies are concerned, it's the old standby: time to market. When one company embraces a meme, it's original, exciting and risky. When the rest hop on board, it quickly becomes stale. To capitalize on these trends, you need to keep a pulse on social channels and other sharing platforms, but more importantly you must be quick to act. Keeping time available for these open-ended endeavors, and giving employees the autonomy to pursue them without wading through bureaucratic red tape, will put you in a position to embrace the viral marketing formula.

We’ve all experienced the excitement that comes from a new product announcement from a company we really like. It is often associated with a generous portion of marketing glitz and glam that get our mouths watering for the next great piece of tech, software or whatever. When the company delivers on that promise in an expected timeframe, we as consumers are satisfied. However, when a business continually delays a release, we are left feeling angry, as if the business has been dishonest in some way. We know rationally that there are a number of factors that can result in product delay, but when we were really looking forward to a release, we just don’t care.

Some setbacks have been so disheartening, so lengthy, that they actually become a running joke. In the video game industry, the game Duke Nukem Forever was intended to be released as a sequel to its 1996 predecessor. Then the delays began and they continued to occur for years. People joked about getting things done “when Duke Nukem comes out” (i.e., never). Then, against all odds, the game finally did get released...in 2011, a full fifteen years after it was slated for distribution. Unsurprisingly, people felt it had missed its window and that the constantly changing scope of the game made it a disappointment.

So, what does this mean for your business? While failure on that level is quite rare, scope creep is not. If you do not accurately forecast project budgets, personnel availability and resource usage, your project can very easily get delayed past the point of no return. When customers or stakeholders inevitably lose interest, you are left with nothing more than lost time and missed opportunities. It is frustrating when projects miss deadlines, but it is even worse when a business continues to sink money into a lost cause. Accurately tracking time and resources can often curtail scope creep, but it will also allow you to cut your losses if a project is drastically off the mark.

Dave Brown, Partner at Foundation Finance, excels at helping clients get beyond the limitations of current financial conventional wisdom and take control of their own economic future. Today, Dave has written a guest blog for us about the financing options for SMBs:

Any small business owner who took the time to research the outlook for obtaining financing in 2013 would most likely get opinions as varied as the sources consulted.  Such a forecast depends on many variables – the state of the overall economy; the state of the local economy; the potential sources of financing; and, the overall credit-worthiness of the applicant, to highlight just a few.  While these are clear starting points, things can start to get somewhat murky once we begin to drill down on the subject of potential sources of financing.

As we continue to deal with the impact of the 2008 financial meltdown, it's impossible for anyone to not still feel ramifications of it.  So even though you might not have had a need for financing in 2010 or 2012, just know changes that were set in motion during the backlash of the last few years might very well have an impact on your efforts to obtain financing in 2013.  This goes beyond the obvious truth that applicants should expect to spend more time and manpower jumping through the lender’s hoops in order to prove they are worthy of the financing help.  We must also be aware of any potential impact on the actual pool of lendable capital in the marketplace. 

As part of the Journyx webinar series, in How To Shield Your Business from the Next Financial Downturn , we discuss just how critical the availability of financing is to the entire global economy, along with how the traditional sources of financing have been impacted and the resulting rise of “alternative” financing.  We also discuss the impact of government regulation, how one government action can contradict another, and how the influence is felt at the local level.  Finally, we explore the possibility of being less dependent on external sources of capital in order to maintain greater flexibility and control in any economic environment.    

This webinar will next be presented on Thursday, Feb 21, at 2 p.m. CST. I hope you'll join us. Please write down any questions now that you have on this topic and I'll do my best to answer it during the webinar's Q&A section.

Well, it finally happened. The mighty Apple has fallen from grace as their stocks dry up into nothing and they are left with naught but a dusty iPod in the sand.

Yet, Apple recently reported its best quarter ever, with profits actually climbing steadily higher and continuing to break records for industry growth. How can this be? As Mashable reports, “investors wanted to see Apple beat estimates by a convincing margin in order to set aside lingering concerns about the stock.” So then, what might appear by one standard to be the ultimate measure of success is seen by another as failure.

That is specifically why, in any company, you must curtail the key performance indicators on which you focus, limiting them to two or three at most. While it is likely the case that stock performance is a KPI for Apple, this example shows how differing conclusions can be drawn from the same data.

Growth is dictated by a number of factors including percentage of projects profitable, overall profitability, and, of course, stock price if you are publicly traded. Regardless, it is important to pick a metric that you are comfortable with and stick to it. Becoming and remaining successful requires a clear focus on achievement of goals, and too may KPIs will leave you confused, much like too many gauges on the dashboard of a car.

In short, Apple isn’t going anywhere regardless of their “failure” to appease Wall Street, but that doesn’t mean their numbers won’t be colored differently by various groups. The smart choice is to choose your own metrics carefully and refuse to be dissuaded by external influence. Attempting to meet everyone’s metrics of success has the potential to negatively affect the real value of your company.