Читать книгу Breakpoints - Ashby Mike - Страница 16

A mistake related to small thinking – and they're all related, because with our thinking we create our world – is under-investment in marketing.

To be fair, marketing is changing under our feet with the ongoing and rapidly evolving impact of the internet. But regardless of the changing landscape there is often a failure of nerve when it comes to marketing, which I think relates to that basic lack of confidence in ourselves and our businesses.

The three marketing questions

Most small businesses struggle to answer the first big marketing question: what business are you in? To make a choice is sometimes painful because we worry about what we're letting go of. In my own business, for example, are we in business education or advisory? Ultimately, the customer decides the answer to this. We might think we are in the business education market, but because of the way the market has been conditioned, our customers think of us as business advisers.

And then there is the second great marketing question: where do I find you? You can have the best product in the world, but if no-one can find it, the business will not grow. I think one of the critical things that keep businesses small is a failure to achieve scaled-up distribution.