Marketing Edge - Turning Your Vision into Reality

SMALL BUSINESS SURVIVAL TIPS NEWSLETTER: November 2009

Thank you for subscribing to Marketing Edge's monthly newsletter: Small Business Survival Tips. This month's issue focuses on branding and the importance of ensuring the message your customers experience is the one you WANT them to have!

Click here to check out my free video series: Small Business Marketing Tips

.Beth Goldstein

Hope is NOT a Strategy!
I was running a business accelerator workshop a few weeks ago and we were in the midst of a great discussion about the challenges that the business owners faced in the past year when one seasoned and successful owner shared his frustrations with his 2009 revenue. Explaining how revenue had dropped by about $2 million, I asked what his strategy was for 2010. He didn't hesitate to explain that he hoped it would be better ....no, he was confident that it would be. Naturally, I asked what his actual plan was to increase revenue to make up for the $2 million loss and he told me that he lots of ideas but nothing formally in place.

There's nothing wrong with great ideas...we all have them rolling around in our entrepreneurial heads but not having a specific plan can be dangerous. In good times, we can sometimes get by on a song and a prayer because there's a strong demand in the market so we don't have to try too hard. And that's what got lots of us into trouble in the past few years. When demand is strong it's easy to become lackadaisical about opportunities surrounding us because we're satisfied and sometimes overwhelmed with the low hanging fruit lining up to do business with us. But that's dangerous, in both good as well as bad times. In good times it means we're missing opportunities that might be a stretch or simply more difficult to seize. In bad times...it might lead to the end of our business.

I certainly hope this business owner develops a solid plan because he's in an industry that isn't resilient to recessions. The hit to his revenue is a sign of how difficult it is even for well-established, successful businesses to overcome customers' aversions to spend disposable income. An inability to articulate the ideas in his head made me (and most likely his colleagues sitting around him) ponder how he would move beyond 'hope' as a strategy for growth and come up with a real plan to take action.

What's your strategy for 2010? As we begin to pull out of the recession, good times are not simply around the corner. It's going to take a lot of work and planning for many businesses to get back to the revenue and profit model you once enjoyed. I hope that you have been spending time working on your 2010 plan, translating your vision onto paper and then into reality since this will give you the greatest chance of driving profit and revenue into your business

Need help with your brand or business growth? Check out my FREE Video Series: Small Business Marketing Tips!

Good luck with your business venture. If I can help you turn your vision into reality, please don't hesitate to contact me at beth@m-edge.com or by phone: 508.893.0976.

Questions?

Please complete our Contact Form or call us at 1.508.893.0976 to discover how we can help you grow your business.