Thoughts on Liberty and Business

We just finished celebrating the 238^th anniversary of the founding of our country. I hope you all had a safe and happy Independence Day.

In 1776, we were blessed to have forward thinking leaders that were steadfast in their desire for independence, a better life, and freedoms. They were men who cared more about their country than their own personal safety, and they were dreamers who had a vision for a grand experiment in self-government. Many were educated in the classics, they knew history, and they understood the strengths and weaknesses of different systems of government.

A line in a play by George Bernard Shaw reads, “I hear you say 'Why?' Always 'Why?' You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?”

Our founding fathers dared to ask, "Why not?"

The United States of America has endured for 238 years and it has forged a hearty self-reliant, independent people, who are creative problem-solvers. We were taught to question authority, we were taught to express our opinions, and we celebrate those self-made men and women who created this country and the industrial revolution that fueled our growth. America has been great because we dare to dream and dared to create. The leaders of the industrial revolution made fortunes providing the country with the materials it needed to grow. Today we build our business on the foundation built by those who went before us.

As business owners, we must constantly improve our companies or go out of business. Once created, a business needs people to make it grow, and your employees can make a business succeed or fail; however, it takes more than workers and leaders to make a business succeed. Just like our founding fathers, a business owner requires vision, a dream, and a plan to pull it off. What is your dream or vision for your company? Where do you want your business to be in two years, or five years?

One of those plans is strategic, another is financial, and my favorite is the marketing plan. To be successful you must tie your marketing plan to your strategic plan. Strategic marketing is an important part of business success. With a properly applied strategic plan, you can stretch your marketing dollars by only applying them in areas that support your strategic growth initiatives. In that way, you waste no time or effort trying things that don’t provide the desired results. Have you thought about you strategic plan, and more importantly, does your marketing plan support your strategic plan?

What about your customers, they are an important part of business success. How well do you know your customers? If someone asked you to define your best customer, what could you tell that person about your customer? I firmly believe that if you know your best customer you can find others that meet those same characteristics they could become your best customers as well. Study the top twenty percent of your best customers. Find out what makes them buy from you; find out what they perceive as your value? All of these factors can help you locate more customers like your best customers.

When you combine what you know about your best customer with your strategic plan goals it becomes easy and very clear where you need to spend your marketing dollars and on what you need to spend them. Research the advertising methods that give you the biggest return on investment to maximize your marketing dollars. Just like our founding fathers, think outside the box and ask, "Why not?" Do something different something that gets the attention of people like your best customers.