August 8, 2013 – ISSN# 1545-2646
Good Old Boys
In the old west, at the end of the day, the hands would sit around the camp fire and tell stories of the day and of days gone by.
Today the stories fly around cyberspace at the speed of broadband and get replaced as quickly as they are generated and published.
With such tools as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram and many more the world of information and transfer of communication is not just continuous but in some cases overwhelming.
Overwhelming not only for the receiver (too much too often) but also the generator. As business leaders, you have all pondered the questions of what do I need to be doing to make sure the business has presence in the social media circles.
There are plenty of providers of these social media services but like the old west, you need to be cautious about the magic tonic being sold from the traveling salesman. Like the bottle read, it cured everything but in most cases nothing at all. The hope in a bottle – “cure all” was just another revenue stream for the salesman to the unsuspecting buyer.
I’m not implying that all social media investments are wasting money nor do I believe that avoiding the social media outlets is a good business strategy. The key here is understanding why you need to be in certain media channels and what is the expected return for being invested there.
For example, it is nice to boast about your 30 second “You Tube” video to your friends at the golf club that is going viral with the teens and early 20 something’s but if your primary purchasing audience is middle aged then you missed the target by two to three generations.
The tonic salesman assures you your social media will go viral but if it misses your core market then the “cure all” tonic did not get ride of the pain but cost you money in the process.
This week as you begin to look at what you have invested in 2013 on marketing and what you are realizing from that investment, don’t be shy about being ruthlessly honest with yourself. Did your marketing dollars achieve the results you had planned on or not. Does 2014 have budget allocated in the correct places to support your revenue projections?
I realize for some of you you think August is too early for planing 2014 but you are just too comfortable waiting until the last minute and then tossing things on paper to have a plan in place for the year end and start of the next year.
Start the process of getting your team together for some talk around the conference table. Share meaningful stories of what worked and did not work in 2013 so you can forecast and plan 2014 earlier this time around.
Interested in getting an outside view of your business results and plan for 2014? Give JKL Associates a call at (313) 527-7945 to discuss our strategic business planning processes.
Questions or comments – email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Office at (313) 527-7945
Copyright – JKL Associates 2013
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