What do you mean you don't get it? Really?! There are actually a lot of people out there who think a lot of other people get it and can't understand why there are not lots of people lining up to buy from them! :) A few local IT companies have approached me about their marketing. These are smaller players in the market, offer various IT services and often also sell hardware. Most of these don't sell a lot to IT specialists. Their main customers are individuals and small and medium sized businesses who don't have an IT person, or if they have one, they are general IT managers who have a good … [Read more...]
Are You Burning Inside?
Most of us don't decide to live an empty life. Most of us do not want to do work that we are not interested in. Most of us don't decide to go into business just because... Heck, those that have tried it know that you don't go into business just for fun - it is a lot of work, unpaid for a long time and feels a bit like being back at university - you never really have any time off because you could always be doing something (and always feel like you should be doing something). You don't go into business unless there is a fire in your belly. Unless it is what you really want to do. It's a bit … [Read more...]
Be a Peacock!
Most, if not all, of us have at some point or another known the feeling of rationally knowing something, but then at some point having it really hit home. Get it. Understand it fully and take it to heart. This happened to me in the past few days. Despite constantly reminding my clients and you, my dear reader, to be brave, to be different, to stand out from the crowd, encourage you to matter and mean something to someone, I realised that I myself have been hiding. I have been hiding a part of me as it if were the most terrible secret... We get so preoccupied with giving the customer what … [Read more...]
Don’t be afraid to narrow it down…
This is classic marketing and I have talked about this before. Find your target group, the one that is most likely to buy from you, and market to that group. Don't try to be everything to everybody. Find your dream customer and find more of those. However, I never said it was easy. And it can be scary. You are always aware that you could be losing out on someone who may, perhaps, in theory, possibly buy. We all do it. I do it myself. I constantly have to remind myself that I have to choose and narrow it down further - not try to be everything to everybody. Until now I have defined my … [Read more...]
What Is Your Yellow Brick Road?
When running a small business, there is always a tendency to be and do everything for everyone. Particularly in the first few years while establishing the business and getting the cashflow going. This makes it extremely important to keep focused. In order to keep focused, however, you first need to know exactly what kind of business you want to be. You need to know exactly what you do and, which is no less important, what you don't do. You must believe and trust that you are doing the right thing, stay on the yellow brick road, and have enormous passion for what you do, because otherwise … [Read more...]