Marketing sometimes gets a bad reputation. It can be seen as a necessary evil of being in business. A dirty part of earning revenue. But it doesn’t have to be. Marketing is just the practice of being clear about the value you can offer to potential customers, and presenting it to them in a way that matches your company’s brand. If you truly believe in the products and services that your social enterprise is producing, and you want to continue making the social change related to your business, yo...
Sep 19, 2019•10 min
If you don’t have a clear business model you can’t grow or market effectively. That is why you must know the 4 key elements of a business model: What you do What you sell Who you sell to How you get paid By being able to clearly define these four elements, you will be able to tell if an opportunity will strengthen or weaken your social enterprise. --- Does trying to grow and market your social enterprise overwhelm you? Does your social enterprise have too many ideas but not enough direction? Str...
Jun 11, 2019•14 min
Ian Rountree is the project manager in charge of Buy Social Praries . Buy Social Praries is a project of LITE , and is a part of the wider network in Buy Social Canada . Ian and I talk about the importance of explaining what your social enterprise is about, and how to tailor that message to specific audiences. We also talk about the importance of networking as an industry to attempt to hit the scale needed to provide products and services for the large purchasing needs of businesses and governme...
May 23, 2019•37 min
How do you communicate as a social enterprise? There are three styles of communication that we explore in this episode of the Strategy Made Simple podcast. Informational - sharing information Transactional - requesting action Interactional - building relationships The mix of styles that you use in communicating with your customers, clients, partners and suppliers will change the way your brand is perceived. Each style will also have a different effect on each of your audiences. Be aware of how y...
May 17, 2019•9 min
Amanda Bernardo is half of Little Voice Books , an independent children's book publishing company. She is the author behind Little Voice and The Lighthouse. Along with her illustrator Samantha, they have built up the company around these two books. We talk about the challenges of marketing books and growing a business with small roots. We also talk about how to organize a company to be able to have the capacity to grow into new areas. --- Does trying to grow and market your social enterprise ove...
Apr 25, 2019•1 hr 2 min
Anne Kresta is the President and CEO of Level IT Up , a social enterprise that helps people with autism with job training, while providing quality IT workers for Winnipeg tech companies. Throughout our conversation, Anne would always mention how what they're doing would not be possible without the support of various groups of people. From her board, to the network of similar organizations, to the autism community. Networks are powerful for social enterprise, and it's important to be connected to...
Apr 12, 2019•34 min
This episode is available in blog format as well. You can Listen to/Read it on StrategyMadeSimple.ca --- How Small Can A Product Be? One of the biggest parts of business is providing a product or service. Once you’ve decided what problem you would like to try to solve, the next step is developing the solution. Whether your solution is delivered as a product or a service, there will come a point where you have to release your product or service into the market. So, how long should you develop you...
Apr 04, 2019•10 min
Kalen Taylor stepped into the role of Executive Director at Purpose Construction and Purpose Pest Management in 2018. Since they started, the team at Purpose has been working at re-branding and separating out the two areas of their expertise, residential retrofits and pest management. As a part of this process, Kalen has been leading Purpose to expand their offerings to better serve their community, and their staff. --- Does trying to grow and market your social enterprise overwhelm you? Does yo...
Mar 26, 2019•38 min
This episode is available in blog format as well. You can Listen to/Read it on StrategyMadeSimple.ca --- Who is your competition? In some areas of life, there is an easy answer. If you play on a football team, clearly the other teams are your competition. If you are a football league commissioner, then it’s a little more complicated. You could see other team sports as your competition, from rugby to soccer to baseball. Beyond even that, if you’re a coach of a community team for 15-year olds, you...
Mar 20, 2019•7 min
Kristy Muckosky uses the relationships with volunteers at the Thrive Thrift Shop to help them build their confidence and grow to see new possibilities. She does this by providing them with a space where they can take chances, learn how to keep trying after failures, and do so in a non-judgemental environment. The Thrive Thrift Shop is a community based thrift shop offering household goods from diapers to bedsheets to the West End community of Winnipeg. They also provide training to volunteers to...
Mar 12, 2019•15 min
Alternate title: Values, Alignment, and Customer Questions Marketing is about aligning your product or service with the values of your customers, then helping them overcome the objections they might have about purchasing the product or service. There are three steps to start overcoming your potential customers' objections: Align your product or service with values Align those values with the right customers Answer the most common questions that come up between the first contact with your brand, ...
Mar 06, 2019•14 min
Art Ladd is the Executive Director of BUILD - Building Urban Industries for Local Development. The majority of his work is centered around helping people who have barriers to employment. BUILD helps them by providing paid training and work placements so they can apply to other companies with experience and a reference. Art also explains how aspiring social entrepreneurs can look for social problems that can be solved while also solving an economic problem. --- Does trying to grow and market your...
Feb 27, 2019•39 min
Marty Donkervoort is a Manitoba based social entrepreneur and educator. He's founded multiple worker co-ops and social enterprises, done consulting, and teaches courses on social enterprise and sustainability. Marty suggests that social enterprises cannot thrive without the business skills to compete in the marketplace. He also explains his story of transitioning from being an executive in a multinational corporation to working in the social sector. --- Does trying to grow and market your social...
Feb 12, 2019•30 min
When you’re starting out as a new business, many of the decisions you make will affect how you can do marketing in the future. Your choices as you’re starting up will form the associations that people will have with your brand based on what you make, how it’s priced, where they can buy it and how you will let people know about your product or service. These components make up what is traditionally called the 4Ps of marketing. Product Price Place Promotion Read the text of this episode. --- Does ...
Feb 06, 2019•15 min
Shaun Loney is a Manitoba based social enterprise developer. He has started several social enterprises, and has been an advisor for many more. He has also written three books on the subject. Shaun urges us to examine the systems within which we live and work. He has encouraged me and many others to try to work towards finding solutions for the problems that are caused by our systems. Shaun's Books: Build Prosperity (Free) An Army of Problem Solvers and The Beautiful Bailout --- Does trying to gr...
Jan 29, 2019•28 min
The process of going through a regular check in with your social enterprise is essential for ensuring that you are continuing to work towards achieving your mission. This check in process will guide you through looking at your mission and values, identifying important statistics within your business and creating a plan to improve your business. Newsletter signup - Get the Check In Worksheet --- Does trying to grow and market your social enterprise overwhelm you? Strategy Made Simple offers coach...
Jan 22, 2019•11 min
What do our stories say about us? How do we show our values through our stories? How can we change the way we feel about ourselves by changing how we talk about ourselves? These are all things that Cate and I talk about in this episode of the Strategy Made Simple podcast. Find out how you can tell better stories about your social enterprise. Cate Friesen is the person behind The Story Source . She does coaching and facilitates workshops to help you or your organization find your story and teach ...
Jan 15, 2019•23 min
Kathryn Kimbley is pursuing a PhD studying nascent social entrepreneurs, in addition to running her own animal assisted therapy social enterprise called HumAnimaCIC . She is based in the Midlands in the United Kingdom. She spoke about her personal story of getting into social enterprise, what it looks like for people to participate in animal assisted therapy, and how social enterprises might be able to incorporate animals into their operations. We also talked about the gaps between academics and...
Dec 04, 2018•42 min
Mike Toye is the Executive Director of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCED-Net). Through his work, he attempts to bring together diverse perspectives on Community Economic Development and share successful innovations across the national community. I got a chance to speak with him while attending the CCED-Net Manitoba Gathering, a national conference where CED academics and practitioners get together and share ideas and perspectives. CCED-Net Website Listen on the Strategy M...
Nov 20, 2018•12 min
Community Based Social Marketing (CBMS) is a system for promoting ideas and advocating within groups of people. It has been used by advocacy agencies to understand where their efforts are most likely to produce the results they are looking for, and whether people are likely to respond positively towards their initiatives. Teresa Prokopanko is the Composting Coordinator for Green Action Centre in Winnipeg. In this episode she explains how small organizations can use CBSM practices as a framework ...
Nov 06, 2018•12 min
Frank Atnikov is the program coordinator of Social Enterprise Manitoba , an initiative of CCED-Net Manitoba. He helps connect social enterprises with resources to help them with developing their business, and coaching them through the stages of starting and growing a social enterprise. In this episode of Strategy Made Simple, Frank walks us through a different definition of social enterprising, how to align the incentives within an organization with desired outcomes, and when it might not be a g...
Oct 23, 2018•23 min
On this episode of the Strategy Made Simple podcast, I interviewed Siloh Moses and we spoke about how to align your business operations with your desired impact. More specifically, we spoke about how to find out what kind of impact your business should pursue, and how to amplify the existing impact you are creating. Siloh Moses is the founder behind WeWin360 , a social good consulting agency. His book Better Than This is available on Amazon . Listen to Siloh explain more about his history on the...
Oct 09, 2018•28 min
RaY or Resource assistance for Youth is a non-profit based in Winnipeg, Manitoba that helps youth get into the workforce. They use several social enterprises to provide workforce training for their Level Up program. Caryn Birch is the manager of their newest social startup: Level Up: Gift and Thrift. Caryn walks us through some of the steps that were involved with setting up a new social enterprise, and what challenges are to be expected for anyone who is thinking about starting a social startup...
Sep 26, 2018•23 min
This episode features Matthew Rempel as he explains some of the basic aspects of social entrepreneurship and social enterprise. He explains how social entrepreneurs think about how they solve problems through their businesses, and how you might be able to take some of the concepts they're using and apply them to your work, whether you're with a social enterprise or not. Twitter Email: matthew@strategymadesimple.ca If you want to do marketing for your social enterprise with confidence, and develo...
Aug 28, 2018•14 min
What do people in the social enterprise sphere think about business growth? I've asked 5 of my previous guests how they think about growth and how that impacts the way their organizations operate. Guests include: Carinna Rosales - SEED Winnipeg, an employment focused non-profit Yacine Bara - Changewealth, a wealth management social enterprise Philip Mikulec - Peg City Car Coop, a car sharing co-op Sarah Leeson-Klym - Canadian Community Economic Development Network, a community industry network a...
Aug 14, 2018•25 min
Carinna Rosales is the Co-Executive Director of SEED Winnipeg. She helps clients develop businesses to work their way out of poverty. Carinna works at helping to build systems to teach leadership to potential business operators. Her main goal is to help clients build a stable income that can provide for them and their families, while working through the local markets. We also speak about some of the big challenges of businesses and non-profits that seek to make an impact, and where the leaders o...
Jul 31, 2018•17 min
Philip Mikulec is the operations manager of the Peg City Car Co-op. They provide hub based car sharing in the Winnipeg downtown area. We spoke about how financial capital can be difficult to raise for social enterprise and co-ops, and how we might begin to build systemic source of capital. We also spoke about how the Canadian shared mobility industry is actively collaborative in trying to find solutions to their shared problems. Strategy Made Simple: Keep it Simple. Read the Strategy Made Simple...
Jul 17, 2018•23 min
My guest today is Brendan Reimer, and he is the Strategic Partner of Values-Based Banking with Assiniboine Credit Union. Over the course of our conversation, he made sure to explain how important the individual is in the process of making change. No change happens without individual people deciding that they are going to make a difference, however big or small that difference is. He then explained how he is able to help people reach a place where they are able to help others through the use of t...
Jul 03, 2018•24 min
Yacine Bara is the founder of Winnipeg based ChangeWealth, a financial planning social enterprise. They are working to provide an alternative source of income for social impact organizations. We had the chance to speak about how social enterprise can work towards finding better sources of capital to fund their operations, and how social enterprise must be able to function as a business to achieve their social goals. More Strategy Made Simple: strategymadesimple.ca/blog...
Jun 19, 2018•18 min
Sarah Leeson-Klym is the Manitoba Regional Director of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network. We were able to sit down and have a conversation about how community economic development can impact cities, how leaders emerge, and how we can speak about developing and new framework for economic development. She also shares her personal story of how she got involved in the movement. Strategy Made Simple: Keep it Simple CCED-Net website: https://www.ccednet-rcdec.ca/en Spark Pro-Bono Mat...
Apr 17, 2018•22 min
