Every once in while you need to step back and look at the big picture to accelerate your business growth. All of the day-to-day demands of running a small business draw you away from that 20 thousand foot view of your business. That’s where real progress can be made in better defining your value proposition, adding clarity to your marketing message and standing out in the crowd.
Here are 5 simple ways to help gain traction in the market place.
If you were going on vacation, you would think through the following:
You wouldn't go away without asking yourself these questions. You may not have every day planned out, but you wou...
Place has most certainly changed and extraordinarily so. Marketing strategy decisions regarding Type/Location of Stores must now include a company website with e-commerce capability. There was once the dominance of the brick and mortar store and perhaps a call center for catalog sales. Service providers, both B2C and B2B, were call-in businesses. Find the number on your Rolodex or phone book and call in your request or order. Now a growing number of businesses have a web presence as shown in the...
This Mastermind is for serious entrepreneurs, professionals and managers/owners of small businesses. This Mastermind will meet monthly and start with a brief meet and greet. We will then talk about a specific business issue and then share with each other our own exprerience or current issues relating to the topic.
Successful entrepreneurs are skilled at surrounding themselves with people vital to the success of their business. Come to the Meadow Creek Mastermind and surround yourself with a gro...
Other than the obvious change in cost structure in some web-based distribution models, pricing fundamentals too, have not changed. Price is set to maximize profitability in concert with corporate strategy regarding:
Corporate strategy regarding its selection of differentiation, cost leadership or focus plays a key role in pricing of course, but what has changed is the influence of changes in distribution on pricing flexibility. Compared to bric...
Product
Corporate strategy would typically define in some reasonably broad parameter product and place. Unless you’re in a web based business or a web substitute (more on that later) there has not been an appreciable change in product since Al Gore invented the internet. Yes, many products have become web enabled, but that’s a matter of product differentiation, not typically corporate strategy. There are also a plethora of products that would not exist if not for the web.
Pity poor Blockbu...
Fundamentals of Company Strategy The foundation of any marketing strategy has got to be a company strategy that defines the parameters of the business that you’re in. Among other things, it defines the scope of the product or service offering, target market, sales and distribution strategy. This is all based on a strategic analysis and strategic plan as depicted below in Michael Porter’s Wheel of Competitive Strategy.
Strategy has always shared a lot more sex appeal in corporate man...
The internet has not changed the fundamentals of marketing. The internet has not created a new “silver bullet” of marketing, but introduced many new considerations and an enormous number of new tools to be employed. All too often people are confusing internet savvy, website design and SEO skills with marketing and it’s not. These skills are important parts of online promotion techniques and campaigns and important elements of most marketers’ tool kits. Marketing, however, needs to be app...
Small businesses rank their Marketing and Innovation lowest in a recent survey of the components of their competitive health. This is not surprising given the confusion generated by the proliferation of new online marketing tools. So called and self-proclaimed “marketing gurus” confuse knowledge of a couple of internet tricks with marketing.
Small businesses are disappointed with their marketing effectiveness as a result of having lost sight of the bigger picture while chasing inapprop...
Check out the events page for our next Tenant Talks event for Meadow Creek clients on our events page. Alesha Struthers, Attorney, will be presenting:
"How to Hire Employees"
A fellow came through to tour our facility last week. I was showing him an office and trying to get a read on where he wanted to be on price for his office. To make sure he had a feel for all the options available to him, I suggested we look at an interior office. He stopped me and said he wasn't concerned about the cost of the office, he knew he'd make it up in personal productivity. At the last minute I decided not to drop to my knees and thank him for understandin...
The sad state of the economy hasn't made it easy for the entrepreneur or small business owner to grow over the last couple of years. The winners in this environment are the ones that don't give up and keep giving it all they've got. The problem is how to give all you've got. It's not an issue of finding more hours in the day, it's how to make yourself more productive.
Productivity is about focusing your efforts on the things that matter most, working on the things that only you can do, minimizi...
You're a solopreneur, experienced entrepreneur or a owner/manager of a small business. You want your business to take off like a rocket and not fizzle like a sparkler. There are a couple of key considerations to keep in mind if you want to meet your expectations. Nothing is worse than failure to launch when trying to jump start a new business venture or put an existing business on a aggressive growth trajectory. Here are some considerations that should be part of every co...
Launching a marketing campaign can create an exciting burst of creativity, excitement and enthusiasm. Every new campaign holds with it an anticipation of phenomenal business growth. The instinctive action is to pour your heart and soul into and make sure it’s done right. The old adage of “you have to spend money to make money” rings in your ears as you spare no expense to pull it off in style.
I hate to be a kill joy, but stop right there. You just can’t get away...
In my corporate days, there was a hackneyed phrase about not working harder, but working smarter. This was a brilliant comment thrown out to a group of business heads when corporate or we had collectively decided that headcount needed to be cut in the face of a deteriorating economic climate. It was usually made by the controller that didn't want to spend the time to allocate reductions based on where a business was relative to plan and simply wanted everyone to take out 10% o...
Let's face it, not too many people go into business for the pleasure of finding clients and customers. People go into business because they have a unique idea for a product or service that they feel there's a need for. Their pleasure is in delivering the product or service and seeing the results. Developing market awareness, drawing prospects into a store or website, delivering the call to action and closing the sale, not so much.
Same thing for small businesses. The foc...
Ask most small business owners these days about marketing and you’ll hear a litany of comments about their website, blog and social media. The remainder will say they don’t need marketing; they get all their business through referrals, but they would like more. Marketing for small business means nothing more than promotion these days, promotion being exclusively web-based.
This is very unfortunate for small businesses struggling in our great recession economy. The time, en...
Small businesses make some common mistakes when it comes to marketing often leading to sluggish sales or leaving money on the table. A couple of quick fixes can energize revenue and pump up the bottom line. It doesn’t take an expert or a lot of work to make it happen. Just apply some common sense to the fundamentals and you’ll be on your way to marketing stardom.
Each one of these points I have run into repeatedly and it’s frustrating to think of the opportunity lost. Here they are in no ...
Entrepreneurs and small business owners often miss huge opportunities to make serious returns on their investment of time and money. All too often they have not set their goals and expectations high enough. If you don’t expect to get there, you’re probably not going to. Shoot for the stars and you might make it to the moon.
There are three levels of entrepreneurship that I identify with goal setting:
• Timid - Replace my prior income as an employee by being self-employed
• Confid...
The old adage “Actions Speak Louder Than Words” goes especially well in the entrepreneurial environment. You have to do something if you expect something to happen, it’s not going to happen by itself.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m big on strategy and planning. I think anyone that hasn’t done an adequate job of planning their business and developing their business model is a fool. That’s a necessary element of a rational person moving forward with a business idea, movin...
What has your office business center done for you lately? Other than provide you office space, internet service and a phone? Probably not much, particularly if you're in a corporately owned facility. You'll get what you pay for and you'll pay for every last thing you get. That's not what I had in mind when I created the Meadow Creek Business Center in Issaquah, Washington.
I've never really been in the real estate business and never had the urge...
As a provider of office space, I’m often asked “why would I want to pay for office space when I have a home office?” The first thing that comes to my mind is that I have a home office too and why don’t I just work at home. My home office is actually quite nice. It’s just off the front hall and has a great view of our front gardens and a little farther down a growth of pine trees along a ridge frequently visited by bald eagles in the area. ...
As plain as the nose on your face. What does that mean? It means something that is obvious. It's right up there with; plain as day, is the Pope Catholic, is a pig pork and does a bear sh#t in the woods?
We all look in a mirror many times a day. What do we see? We see what we are looking for. Is my hair combed? Did I remember to shave? Are my teeth clean? We confirm what we most likely already know and get on with life.
I suppose i...
I am a big strategy fan, mostly because I have restructured so many companies that did not have one. Others had one that had not changed in years despite significant changes in the market environment. A Strategic Plan must be a living document that reflects the realities of the world around you. Your strategy must reflect the way the world works, not the way you would like it to work. Truly innovative strategies in fact change the way the world works, which does not happe...
I am always amazed at the number of people that do not have a proper business plan. I am equally amazed at those who feel that their fill in the blank plan will make them successful beyond their wildest expectations. What amazes me even more are those entrepreneurs and small business owners with or without plans that do not have a strategy or strategic plan.
All the detailed planning in the world isn't worth a darn without strategy. A well thought out strategy is an analysis o...
If you’ve survived the recession, you are probably eager to start growing your business again. Hopefully, you’ve taken the opportunity to get you marketing side of the business in order so that when the business begins to flow you’re positioned to take a larger share. If not, it’s not too late to make it happen.
Small business owners generally spend 16 hours per week on the “administration” of their business and less than half that amount of time growing their business.&...
What has The Man done for you lately? If you're Too Big to Fail, you picked up some TARP money and paid yourself a big fat bonus. Pretty much hush money for not telling the world whose idea it was to have Fannie and Freddie go into the sub-prime loan business. If you're out of work, you’re getting an endless series of unemployment benefit extensions. Not particularly good for you or the country, but sure to get your vote. If you're an entrepreneur trying to ride o...
Not too long ago, a couple starting a restaurant approached me. They had to have a business plan and they had to have it now. I asked what the hurry was and they indicated that their future landlord was insisting on it. I thought good for the landlord. Eighty percent of restaurants fail in the first two years so it might save everyone involved a whole lot of trouble by insisting that they think through and document what they intended to do.
From the perspec...
Entrepreneurs face self-imposed limits to their growth based on preconceived notions of their own abilities and confidence in others. These limitations translate into anemic visions of their business potential. I have observed barriers to business vision based on five stages of business development. Each stage is a learning process for the would-be entrepreneur. A different management style accompanies each and stays with the individual throughout their career. Each...
The recession has created a new wave of entrepreneurs. Disenchanted corporate executives will often choose to start their own business versus extending their corporate careers. With close to three-quarters of new businesses failing within 10 years, this is not an easy out to finding another position or without risk.
Too often new entrepreneurs, even well funded and knowledgeable former executives, will enter their new business adventure with apprehension and not be fully comm...
If you have been keeping up with my articles and blogs, you already knew the recovery would be under way and this summer would be a welcome relief from the agony of the past year. If you have not, then the recent economic news and pronouncements of the end being in sight by people in high places may have come as something of a surprise given all of their negative thinking, lowering of expectations and blame gaming we’ve been subjected to for the past year. Unfortunately, our leader...
My own view is that political correctness has resulted in the dumbing down of America. We can no longer have intelligent conversation about important issues of the day for fear of offending someone or that “political correctness” will be used against us to prevent otherwise compelling arguments from being made. This same phenomenon can be self imposed in the business world.
An old mentor of mine once referred to “killer assumptions” that were engrained in the corporate...
Every once in a while a conversation triggers some memories that have stuck with me through the years. They are usually humorous, ironic or particularly prophetic. Everything else has been compressed and relegated to external storage and basically irretrievable, just like on my own network.
Today, my daughter was putting together her resume. She's in her senior year of high school and is trying desperately to get a summer job. She wanted some examples so I went ...
How much a business should be making is not an easy question to answer, although all too many answer it without a lot of thought. Too often those who put themselves ahead of the business consider the answer to be as much as possible no matter what the circumstances. This can only be acceptable if more senior management have an equally short-term, self serving and/or simple minded view of life. A somewhat more thoughtful, but nonetheless equally inane response is to establish th...
It was on Good Friday. My wife informed me that we were not going to be eating meat, but she wanted to stop in and get some fast food while we were out. I saw a sign for Skipper's in South Everett, Washington and pulled in. I regretted doing so almost as soon as I had done it. The place looked run down and there weren't many cars in the lot, although we were a little early for the lunch time crowd. As I got out of my car, an older, disheveled looking man was pu...
The strategic plan is a vision and roadmap to future success only to the extent that it is:
The alignment of these fundamental requirements seldom happens. To a very real extent, that is what separates successful c...
If there's one thing worse than not having a strategy, it's having a strategy with no implementation plan. It's all in the execution. no matter how much research goes into the plan, unless somebody does something, it's not going to happen. In most small businesses, you have to do something whether you are the only person or leading the way.
What's even worse than not having an implementation plan? One that is not realistic. Stretch goals are nice for deciding where your end point is going to be...
Deciding what task and decision making you should let go of and pass on to others may be the easiest part of the process. You have more than likely already made those decision and you remind yourself of those decision every day along with a lot of other people. What am I talking about you say. Ask yourself the following questions and you will probably have a really good start to give away pile.
Defining the process for every day decision making and tasks is both difficult and essential to successful delegation. Thinking through how you go about doing something is not as easy as it might seem. Several steps will help get through this and create valuable documentation for your business that is essential not only for delegation, but in establish consistency that will improve the quality of services provided that translate into enhanced customer service and improved business pe...
One of the most common difficulties facing small business managers is dealing with the concept of delegation. Delegation is a vital element in ensuring the efficient use of scarce resources. In a small business the most vital resource is the owner or manager. Unfortunately, the lack of delegation can overwhelm that resource and decrease not only the effectiveness of the owner, but all of the company’s assets. The effect of this inefficiency is to hold the firm back from...
The question of what to do with the decision making and tasks that you have identified should be far more straight forward and quantifiable than the series of things you’ve done leading up to this point. The answer can usually be determined by answering several questions.
The question of what to do with the decision making and tasks that you have identified should be far more straight forward and quantifiable than the series of things you’ve done leading up to this point. The answer can usually be determined by answering several questions.
A Business Plan is an essential element of running any business. Your firm can be a billion dollar multi-national or you and your dog working out of the garage, you need a plan. A plan’s value is not so much the finished product, but the thought process and decision making that go into building it. A plan forces you to think through what it is you want to do, where you want to go, how you are going to get there and what problems you might encounter along the...
Plan, Do, Check, Act is a very simple method of keeping yourself grounded to reality. We all do things for a reason. When we do something we expect a certain outcome. Sometimes we do something and we don’t get the result we expected. We call those mistakes. We learn from those, some faster than others. As we learn, we change what we are doing to see if that works and gets us the desired result. We keep changing until that happens or w...
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