Читать книгу Startup Guide to Guerrilla Marketing - Jay Levinson Conrad - Страница 19

Many large and respected companies, with well-known names and abundant respect, figured that their business expertise would enable them to succeed in areas far from where they had been demonstrating their core competencies. Most of those companies, later having lost millions of dollars, realized that they were in over their heads because they allowed their corporate egos to ride herd over their common sense.

Guerrilla marketers don’t make that mistake. They are skilled at their core competencies as well as skilled at maintaining their focus. They do not worship at the shrine of diversification, but instead at the shrine of excellence. Instead of going off into unchartered territories, they concentrate on adding even more excellence to their current endeavors. They strive to do what they’ve always been doing, only doing it better than they have before.

Guerrilla marketers are skilled at their core competencies as well as skilled at maintaining their focus. They do not worship at the shrine of diversification, but instead at the shrine of excellence.

Technology and experience enable them to succeed at that goal. Those factors enable them to keep their focus while making it even more acute. Mind you, it’s not easy to maintain your focus. In today’s world, distractions abound. Side tracks woo many a leader from his or her chosen path. Almost always, trouble lurks at the end of those roads.

Maintaining your focus sounds easy but is hard. This does not mean that you should resist change but that you should accept it if it helps to keep you on track, on target, and on the money. But if it causes you to veer from your target and diffuse your focus, steer clear of it. We have seen many train wrecks caused by following tracks that led off the edge of the cliff.

We have also seen many century-old companies earning more than ever because they were able to resist the temptation of novelty and corporate confusion while staying the course. A word of warning to start-up businesses: You will be tempted often to go for the gold at the expense of your focus. We have nothing to say against gold and only four golden words to say about focus: Maintain it or else.