Just a quickie today as I think it is self evident:
What trends are there in your market place that can provide you with an opportunity?
Have you noticed that when you have been in business a few years and you have worked an optimum way of getting your product or service to market and you are earning enough, it is easy to become complacent?
Or may be you are concentrating so hard on racing around the hamster wheel you can’t see beyond the next few days?
Either way you may not see what is happening in the market and how things are changing, and they are changing, very fast.
When the Internet first came out did you say ” Wow what a fantastic opportunity to make money, to serve my customers and reach so many more people?” No?
What about when the iPhone first came out ( other phones are available)? Or what about the iPad? Did you think “I can get an app made” ( I did ,about creating our day called Ideal Day) No?
Research has shown that entrepreneurs look at a situation and wonder what business opportunity there is in that. If you are saying “well I want to serve my clients not make money” you still need to be aware of what is going on – if you don’t see opportunities, others will.
So the challenge is as follows :
Look through the papers or news or look at twitter trends, what is happening?
Ask yourself:
” how can I use this information to serve my clients better ?”
and
“how will this affect my clients?”
Obviously there are some stories that are not relevant,
however looking through recent news there were two items that might be of relevance:
1) fuel prices increased again. This means that people will be more reluctant to use their cars, or do unnecessary travel. What does that mean for your business – can you take it to them? Can you do a marketing campaign to attract local business?
2) a local office has been closed down with a number of redundancies. People will be looking for a bargain. Maybe now is the time to offer a discount using online vouchers such as groupon. As with all marketing you need to bear in mind not just the initial revenue but the ongoing value of a new customer, which is how you should appraise all your marketing costs ( see separate post on marketing budgets.. or lack of them)
Take time to step back and take a fresh look at your business.
