Through the lifetime of a business, the founders and core team will face many questions and challenges. We have fielded many different questions while consulting for various businesses. Questions such as, “what should we name our business?” all the way to, “how can we attract the best buyer for our exit?”. We always liken this to the age old story of a hero’s journey. Name the hero, pick the weapons, which beasts to battle, and ultimately what is the conquest? And it becomes essential that the core team of the business always chooses the journey and what is best, since best ultimately can only be defined by the stakeholders.
While the magnitude of these questions and challenges will fluctuate depending on what stage your business is in, one ingredient will stay constant – marketing. Once you determine your mission, best, and goal, the action becomes getting there in the most efficient and prosperous manner possible. This is why how you characterize your business both internally and externally always stays relevant. Next time you are discussing an important decision, try framing the decision from the point of view of how it will be received to your clients, users, or employees, and you will notice that it does all point to “how is it marketed”.
- “What should we name our business?”
- What is the message or image we want people to think of when they hear our name
- “Who should we hire?”
- Who do we think will portray our values the best, and uphold our internal culture
- “What product line should we release next?”
- What are our customers saying, and what can we bring them next that answers to their pain, need, or desire
- “Who are our competitors and how do we beat them?”
- Where do we overlap in messaging and value with other companies – how are they communicating this better or worse to potential clients
- “How can we attract the best buyer for our exit?”
- What part of our business speaks loudest to potential buyers and how can we ignite more value into that aspect or function – how do we internally define best, and think through the windfall to our people and customers after a potential exit
Over the last 15 years, there has been another evolution that has highlighted the ability to market your business even more, which is the growth of the internet space. Did you know that the first generation Iphones hit the market in 2007? Since then, there has been accelerated development in capabilities online – we have seen the rise and fall of startups, the next great idea, and inventions that would have been considered magic 30 years ago. With the data and case studies of the Iphone era, what becomes evident quickly is that many of the business success stories during this time capitalized in new communications online. With nearly 100 million people with smartphones in Japan, your ability to contort your perfect message into a delivery device that makes it appear in front of these engaged potential clients becomes the key to hyper growth.
These are the reasons why, the question to “Am I ready to invest in marketing for my business?” should always be a resounding yes! Even at the inception point of what may be a small idea at that time, your time investment should be going into marketing. Jeff Bezos arrived at ecommerce’s doorsteps, idealizing how best to market paper books to people. Once the business starts to show profits and promise, you will have the ability to reinvest into your business. Elon Musk famously took close to 200 Million from his exit in PayPal and started SpaceX, and since then much of his profits go to starting new ideas or accelerating a current one. If you are committed to the long journey, and truly believe and are passionate about what you are doing, it’s always great to think through how to leverage marketing to stay relevant, impactful, and on trend.
This is all a very daunting task. Starting a business, succeeding in business, continuing your success all truly are uphill battles. With the ever changing marketing landscape, it is also impossible to know everything, to do everything, with just yourself or your immediate team. This is one of the major reasons Deebo was founded. We wanted to help bring our expertise and know-how to great businesses. We love witnessing the journey of businesses of all sizes and shapes, and it is most rewarding for us when we can look back and say we helped, even just a little bit.
The next time you are opening up your Google Search and wondering; “how can my business win in the digital landscape?” We would love to chat.
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