• Innovative Strategies That Create More Profits

Category: Blog Post

Why Marketing Strategy Is Important?

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

 

What Is A Marketing Strategy?

 

 

I am starting this blog; “why a marketing strategy is important,” from the premise that your company already has a business strategy. Why?

Business strategy is your story, and marketing is how you tell that story. If you need a business strategy, check out this blog post.

The job of marketing is to find potential customers in your market niche and turn them into customers

— and then keep them as customers. Pretty straightforward, but as every marketer knows —

it’s doable but challenging. So we must start with the fundamental question, “What is a marketing strategy?”

First of all, the standard definition of a strategy is a process that starts with an objective (that is achievable and measurable),

then researches the problem and creates an insightful concept on how how to reach that objective.

Then the company decides how it will implement that solution

— what it will do and not do because of limited resources –

and finally, prepares a plan to execute and monitor the implementation of that strategy.

How Marketing Strategy Is Determined

A marketing strategy uses the same process as a business strategy.

However, the objective is to find potential customers in your market niche, turn them into customers,

and then keep them as customers. To do that, you need to focus on where the initial buying decision is made — in the buyer’s mind. 

Another way to look at marketing strategy is to ask questions because strategy is all about making choices,

and asking questions forces you to think more creatively. For example, what are the aspirations for your customers and your company?

What markets or categories are going to be your main focus? How will you convert those prospects into customers?

I will be writing a blog on this approach soon.

Unfortunately, too many marketers go astray on what they think is a marketing strategy.

They list ( a plan) all the media they can use and then go about telling their story when time and money permit. 

Their story is often about what they do, but the potential buyer doesn’t care what they do;

they care about what you do for them. Plus, they often need to remember that you have to reach prospects

where they make the initial buying decision— in their mind, not in a brochure or catalog.

They need to remember that their story is their business strategy, and marketing is how they tell it.

Why Marketing Strategy Is Important: The Competitive Challenge

 

If the targeted person is a prospect, you have to assume they need your product,

which means they already use your competitor’s product. You have to replace that brand with

your superior, differentiated brand and then position your brand as the better choice in this product category. 

If they are not using anyone’s product, you must ask why? If you can’t answer that question,

you might be in the wrong market, targeted the wrong audience, Or have a new product in a new market.

That is a short, simple explanation of the marketing challenge, but you can see why

most companies are disappointed with the results of their marketing program.

A Marketing Strategy Is How You Tell Your Story. 

 

First, you have to aim your story at the right target — the prospect’s mind where the buying decision is made.

As you know, our brains constantly collect information and store it in either our short memory (Tiger! Run!)

Or our long memory (Oh yea, I remember that now) so we can use it later. That storage space is like a piece of real estate.

Your job is to get your brand to own a piece of real estate in the buyer’s mind.

In any product category, there can be several brands stored there. One will be the number one preferred brand.

You may need a significant media budget to stay there if you are number one already.

But, if your brand is number two-five, you need to differentiate your product and position it as the better alternative.  

Everyone wants to know; what are some marketing strategy examples. Following are two you will recognize.

 

An example of doing it right: Hertz was the number one preferred band in the auto rental business

and had the largest market share. Avis moved to number two by positioning itself as the alternative to Hertz

by saying, “We’re number two. We try harder.” Busy business people hated waiting to check in or out.

They quickly “owned” that real estate in the buyer’s mind.

 

An example of doing it incorrectly: Computers were starting, and IBM was number one.

Honeywell was one of several other companies trying to compete with IBM.

They knew potential buyers looked at IBM and one other company before purchasing.

So Honeywell positioned itself as “The Other Computer Company.” It worked great for getting into the bidding process

— for a short period. But they lost every bid. Why? Their computers were not equivalent to IBM’s.

You have to be able to back up your positioning.   

You get the idea. Marketing strategy is more than making lists of media and deciding which tactics

and how big the budget will be. And you also need a strategy for each tactic you will use.   

I will cover the strategies of the different tactics – problems/issues, brands, differentiation, positioning,

value propositions, innovation, creative thinking, how to make better decisions, Etc. in other blog posts.  

However, to get started, the following essential things you need to do to assemble your marketing strategy and plan.

 

Marketing Tactics

Remember, your business strategy is your story 

and marketing is how you tell your story.

How To Get Your Marketing Program Started

A marketing strategy is a detailed plan of a company’s promotional efforts across various platforms and channels.

It includes objectives, target audience profiles, content creation steps, key performance indicators,

and other components. Hubspot.com identifies the following components as part of a marketing strategy.

In addition, I cover many other components and objectives like positioning, creating

differentiation, value propositions, brand creation, Etc., in other articles.

 

Marketing Objectives

 Start with the marketing program’s overall objective to determine how the marketing strategy creates revenues.

Then the objectives for each strategy element and the goals of each communications program or tactic you plan to use.

All of these must be in sync with the business and marketing strategy.

Again, make them achievable and measurable. With every objective, be as specific as possible. 

Marketing Budget: Your budget depends on the programs you want to implement

and the targeted market or niche selected. You can start with a definite value proposition

to a targeted small niche market and expand the target market as profits increase.

You can develop your marketing programs more quickly with the resources (time, talent, and money)

and an agreed-upon strategy. Also, the marketing budget must sync with your plan’s objectives and tactics. 

 

Competitive Analysis

Knowing your competition is critical when creating your marketing strategy. For example, compare your business model against your competitors.

This analysis will give you information and a visual perspective and make sharing this information with all your employees easy. 

Analyzing each business model element will enable you to look for weaknesses and opportunities to exploit. 

 

Client/Prospect Analysis

Marketing is about knowing your prospects and clients. Not just geographic, psychographic, and location, but what’s in their mind.

Clients and prospects may already have perceptions and opinions about your products and services

and those of your competitors. You want to find out if they do and what they are. 

This information is what your marketing will be about – creating a preferred space in their mind for your product.

In today’s competitive world, you must own a piece of real estate in your prospect’s mind.

Once you understand your position and your competitors’ positions, you can begin to create your marketing programs, including:

developing and maintaining your band,

differentiating your product from the competition  

positioning your product well in the prospect’s mind.

You are ready to begin designing and creating the message you want to send your prospects,

including advertisements, brochures, websites, white papers, video messages, content marketing, blogs, podcasts, publicity, and more.

 

Monitor Your Marketing Programs

 

Marketing performance measures marketing campaigns’ success and shows how well campaigns

are tracking toward your goals. They are also essential elements of any campaign,

and marketing teams need them to understand whether their marketing strategy is successful.

 

 Following are some metrics Amazon suggests for different channels that you should consider.

They will help you make better decisions about optimizing your programs and budgets.

 

Email marketing: email opens, forwards, unsubscribes

Digital marketing: click-through rate and impressions

Social media: follower count, impressions or reach, and engagement rate.

Website: monitor traffic, bounce rate, new customers, returning customers, time spent on site and traffic sources, and conversions.

Content marketing: blog traffic, amount of content shared, content downloads, qualified leads

through lead generation form and the progress of prospects throughout the sales funnel.

Video: impressions and total viewing time, followers, comments. Etc

Sales: with direct sales, sales team response time, sales call volume, and sales call reviews

Revenue: how much revenue each channel generates, the cost of that revenue, repeat sales, client turnover, and profits. 

SEO: organic traffic, average keyword rankings, keyword search volume, and 

Quality: Quality Score, reviews, and monthly recurring revenue.

Conclusion

I started this blog; what is a marketing strategy,” from the premise that your company already has

or is developing a business strategy. The job of marketing is to find potential customers

in your market niche and turn them into customers — and then keep them as customers. 

Another way to look at marketing strategy is to ask questions because strategy

is all about making choices, and asking questions forces you to think more creatively. 

Unfortunately, Marketers often think their story is about what they do,

but the potential buyer doesn’t care what you do; they care about what you do for them. 

Marketing Strategy Is How You Tell Your Story. First, you have to aim your story at the right target

— the prospect’s mind where the buying decision is made. In any product category,

there can be several brands stored there. One will be the number one preferred brand. 

You get the idea. Marketing strategy is more than making lists of media and deciding which tactics and how big the budget will be. 

Cheers,

Jim Zitek

Two other blog posts you will want to check out:  “How innovative strategies drive sales”

and “Innovative strategies for a competitive market”

Innovative strategies that create sales

HarborCapitalGroupinc.com

 

Innovative Strategies For Competitive Markets

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

 

Innovative Strategies For Competitive Markets

Customers demand that businesses give them something new in our constantly changing world.

 

The way to do that is with innovative strategies. However, this results in releasing more than 30,000 unique products each year

—and about 95 percent fail, according to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen.  

At the same time, many businesses need help coping with a fiercely competitive marketplace

or need to rely more on current customers. Some are reluctant to make changes because of potential risks.

The solution to many of these problems is incremental innovation –

– rather than radical or disruptive innovation– to improve their value proposition continuously and, subsequently, their overall results.

 

What is incremental innovation?

 

Incremental innovation is a series of company product or service improvements.

There are two basic types of innovation: incremental and radial. 

Incremental innovations are when companies make small changes to existing products

through incremental improvements to the business model to improve customer retention and marketing.

These developments also help improve efficiency, productivity, and competitive differentiation. 

Radical innovations transform the business model altogether. It transforms an existing system,

design, or invention into something new. These innovations can change parts of the system or the entire production process.

Radical innovators create an entirely new market for their products.  

However, only some products or procedures are brand-new ideas. Most new product

s are alterations or new applications of existing products, with some twist in design, function, portability, or use. 

For example, Apple didn’t invent the mobile phone but kept innovating it over the years.

Now it’s one of the world’s most profitable companies.

 

In a large study by McKinsey & Company, they were told by business leaders that many companies

were putting less emphasis on radical innovation and more focus on incremental innovation. 

These companies focus on improving their significant products, exploiting known opportunities, conserving cash, and minimizing risk.  

However, they concluded that more urgent actions are required in turbulent times. For example,

  1. Adapting their core products and service to meet changing custom

2. Identify and quickly respond to opportunities created by these market changes

3. Restart their innovative programs and allocate resources as needed

4. Develop products and services to be ready for post-crisis recovery.

 

 Examples of Innovation Strategies For Competitive Markets

 

Gillette had created and patented a unique razor handle and inexpensive replacement blades.

They upgraded the handles with innovations like pivoting heads. When the patented handle expired,

hey replaced the expensive handle with a cheaper one and sold “improved,” more expensive blades.   

Coca-Cola has been innovating and staying relevant with line extensions for over 100 years.

For example, Cherry Coke, Coke with lime, and Diet Coke. They have remained relevant as trends change.  

Apple iPhone was introduced in 2007 with few features. Here are a few examples.

From small metal flip phones to glass with touchable features, from 3G to 5G to small phones to large,

multipurpose phones with cameras to thousands of apps so you can even do your banking on the phone, 

 

 Focus On Your Entire Business Model

 

Often, incremental innovations focus on the company’s specific product or service. This focus is fine,

but I suggest starting with your business model and examining every area within that model

— plus your competitor’s business model. Look at every value proposition of your offering, brand, and more.

Another strategy is to set up a schedule for each iteration. When implemented, you will have a period of exclusivity.

Then hit your competitors with another significant improvement.

When you have gone through your entire business model, your competitors will find it difficult to copy your value-price offering. 

Or look at improving just two or three areas and implement them.

Then come back and innovate another two or three areas several months later

and not only impress your customers but also drive your competitors crazy and make it hard for them to copy you.

 

Creativity

 

Entrepreneurs work with two types of thinking. Linear thinking—sometimes called vertical thinking

—involves a logical, step-by-step process. In contrast, creative thinking is more often lateral,

in which established logical thought patterns are purposefully ignored or challenged. 

According to Wikipedia, lateral thinking indirectly solves problems using a creative

approach where the reasoning process is only sometimes obvious. It involves ideas that may take time to be noticeable. 

Lateral thinking involves ideas that may only be obtainable with a step-by-step approach.

It solves problems using an indirect method. Rather than going from A directly to B,

you start from a different place, not on the A to B road. 

You begin at location C, which is lateral (at an angle) to the A to B road.

This process causes your mind to think of new, different ways to reach your destination at B.

It is a powerful way to generate very creative ideas. You can learn more about lateral thinking

from Edward De Bonos’s book, “The Use of Lateral Thinking,” or our blog on lateral thinking.

Edward De Bono also links lateral thinking to humor, where your mind has to switch from

a familiar pattern to an unexpected one that generates surprises and new insights.

This innovative thinking process is a powerful creative tool worth your time learning.  

 

 The Benefits of Incremental Innovation 

 

Instead of risking radical innovations, many companies are now pouring their development

budgets into incremental innovations. Also, many customers prefer upgraded products

over radical new products. This incremental strategy gives the company additional cash to work toward radical innovations.   

An incremental innovation strategy enables you to retain your market share by staying relevant.

But you also have to understand what your clients want. For example,  

 Incremental innovations allow you to stay ahead of your competition while taking negligible risks

and using limited financial resources. Customer satisfaction with your offering creates customer retention. 

Radical innovations are essential to an organization’s long-term strategy,

but short-term upgrades to existing products keep customers interested in your business.

 

If you keep the products you have now without keeping them up to date,

you could be in trouble as the economy and markets change in the future.

 

Conclusion

 

With our constantly changing economy and a competitive marketplace, the solution is

to develop an incremental innovation strategy. These small and often frequent changes help improve efficiency,

customer retention, and competitive differentiation. Apple is a perfect example of how to do it.  

When looking for areas to improve, be positive in your approach. Don’t focus on problems.

Focus on the opportunities that will result from your efforts. Also, broaden your perspective and use both vertical and lateral thinking skills.

The benefits from this incremental innovation can be powerful and include:

Staying relevant to your market, Improving your growth with minimal risk, and retaining clients longer.

Protect yourself from a changing economy and marketplace. Innovative Strategies For Competitive Markets

 

Steps To Create Incremental Innovations?

 

Step One: Start by studying your current customers and competitors. Include their business models.

Step Two: Look at all the modules in your business model. Don’t ask, “What’s wrong?”

Ask, “How can I make this module (product, price, performance, Etc.) better?

When you are looking for ideas, keep your questions positive. Focusing on the positive will result in positive answers. 

Step Three: Select a reachable, measurable objective and do the research needed to expand that objective. 

Step Four: Get several ideas for each module. The more modules you examine,

the stronger your innovation will be. Select which idea you will implement

(this may be challenging because you may only be able to execute some of your ideas simultaneously.

Step Five: Make sure you have the time and resources, test it, then iterate and try again.   

 

Cheers. 

Jim Zitek

Also, check  “How innovative strategies drive sales.” and “Want a creative solution to an unsolvable problem.”

 

                                   Innovative Strategies That Create More Profits           

              ClickVisor Program

                       Harborcapitalgroupinc.com

Why Business Growth Strategies Generate Revenues

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

Want To Make Your Marketing More Effective?

Close the efficiency gap between strategy and marketing 

Reaching revenue goals, for most companies, is very difficult. According to Reflektive.com, 90 percent of companies do not meet their goals. Why?

They do not have an effective business growth strategy.

There is often a gap, difference, or disconnect between the business growth strategy and the company’s marketing messages.

They are often not identical. Consequently, this gap damages sales and marketing results.

To close that gap, you must first create business growth strategies to generate revenues.

Why? Because your business strategy is your story. Marketing is how you tell that story. 

 

A strategy looks simple when you look back at it.

Here are a couple of examples:

BMW designs, engineers, builds, and sells “The Ultimate Driving Machine” (for that unique slice of the upscale car market).

Walmart: “Save Money. Live Better.” They created a strategy to chain-link an operating system

to get the population density needed to serve small towns with brand choices and lower prices in larger city stores like K-Mart.  

Netflix: “See What’s Next” anticipated the power of cloud computing and its ability to reach individual computers and individuals.

They pivoted from a disc rental company and created a new video-streaming strategy for the world’s homes and businesses.

 

Today, business growth strategies must generate more revenues.

Market boundaries do not have to stay permanent. 

Most business leaders accept market boundaries and industry conditions are fixed.

The assumption is that it’s always been that way.

Therefore, you must strategically choose between differentiation OR low cost to succeed.

But you can’t do both: add value AND lower costs.

This belief hurts product and market innovation for companies in very competitive markets.

We have learned from professors and strategists like Richard Rumelt’s Good Strategy/Bad Strategy

to rule breakers like Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne‘s insightful Blue Ocean that this belief is false.

You just need to be more creative.

What is true is that strategies have been crippled by believing this value–cost trade-off rule is impossible.

Consequently, this viewpoint narrows your perspective and limits your potential product and market opportunities.

We are not just talking about creating disruptive technologies.

We are talking about competing in very competitive markets.

 

You can shape your market boundaries.

Innovative strategies enable you to create your own boundaries to generate revenues.

You can shape your market boundaries and target customers,

creating differentiation (more value) and lower costs. Here are a few examples:

Southwest Airlines broke the industry “hub and spoke” model and flew direct routes to smaller airports.

They have been the only consistently profitable U.S. airline since its inception.  

Apple broke the industrial computer market by introducing a beautiful, easy-to-use computer for individual consumers.

That worked pretty well.

CitizenM Hotel created a “five-star hotel” experience with four-star prices

by eliminating the things “five-star” customers didn’t care about,

like lobby check-ins and a concierge service.

And then added in items they did care about,

like King size beds, better mattresses, cotton sheets, and better pillows.

As a result, customers told their friends, and the hotels became an instant success.

 

Disruptive technologies’ successes often go viral.

More money is made from adapting those technologies

New technology is important and disruptive technology is and should be well rewarded.

But history shows that “big” money comes from applying technology and creating new strategies and markets.

Some popular examples from the New York Stock Exchange are

Apple, Google, FaceBook (Meta now), Airbnb, and others exploited the new technologies. 

Therefore, if you have an open mind and a broad perspective, you can change how you see opportunities.

You can go from fighting fierce competition to creating a bigger market.

A market consisting of current buyers and previously ignored nonbuyers

who become buyers because of your unique, new business growth strategy.

 

  Are you tired of constantly fighting your competition?

Take your company to the next level with an insightful strategy.

If you are willing to entertain new ideas and are committed to involving your team, you can make it happen.

 Getting started on your insightful new business growth strategy could put you ahead of your competition.

About 70% of companies say they have a strategy, but only a few have an actual strategy.

The problem is their definition of strategy is goals or a mission statement.

Goals are mostly wishes without a strategic plan on how to achieve them.

 

Unfortunately, only 15% have real, achievable, measurable, specific strategies.

And of these companies with real strategies, about 40% still miss achieving their objective. Why?

Not because of the strategy but because the execution of the strategy is often neglected for many different reasons.

So, having a strategy AND executing it is important.

Also, because execution takes time, it can lose its priority. Success takes a long-term “team” effort.

On the positive side, if the team is included in the process,

they will become more excited as the execution becomes more and more of a reality.

 

How you can generate revenues and make your competition irrelevant.

Join our ClickViser program. We’ll help you step-by-step reach your objectives.

Join our “ClickVisor” program. This program was created to help you regardless of the stage your company is currently at,

from an entrepreneur to an established business. It gives you the information you need to create and develop each stage of your business growth strategy.

The stages follow this pattern:

Start by identifying the ONE, most important problem preventing you from your objective or opportunity.

Then research and diagnose the situation until you get that insightful solution.

Then, because everyone has limited resources (time, skills, money, etc.), deciding what the company will do and will not do, is based on your strategy.

And finally, define the coherent plan of action required to reach your objective. 

 

You can look for an innovative strategy solution within your industry and markets.

Or depending on market growth rates and/or competition, you can

look at your objective across industries and markets to include expanded markets

and current non-customers (future customers), which is often thought of as a Blue Ocean Strategy.

 

Three ways to create your business growth strategy and story.

From Do-It-Yourself to We’ll help you do it.

Everyone is pressed for time and needs a flexible schedule. Our job is to help you

get an innovative and effective business growth strategy –at an affordable price — that will help you reach your objective.

You can do that through the following three programs.

Option One: Use our ClickVisor  Coach Program.

This online digital program can be accessed at any time you have time.

The information is divided into modules: strategy, execution, marketing strategy, etc.

so you can get the information you need when you need it.

It also includes free email so you can ask questions.

Option two: The ClickVisor Advisor Program

This program includes the ClickViser Coach program plus telephone or Zoom calls.

We are only a phone call away if you have questions or need charity about a unique issue.

 There is an additional charge for this based on the time used.

Option Three: our Consulting Program.

The Consultanting Program includes programs one and two,

plus one-on-one sessions to help you through the entire strategy creation process.

This customized program is set up together. If this program interests you,

we will need to set up a phone appointment to discuss what needs to be done.

Conclusion

You will be ahead of most of your competitors just by starting your journey toward an effective business growth strategy.

Looking forward can seem daunting at first.

But, once you see your strategy, if done right, looking backward, the strategy looks simple and easy.

Even though the world is getting more complex and seems to be moving faster, we can help make it as easy and effective as possible.

If you have an open mind and broaden your perspective,

you can shape your marketing boundaries by creating differentiation AND low cost.

 

Join one of our ClickVisor Programs to get the critical information you need

to create your own business growth strategy and make your competitors irrelevant.

Remember, your strategy is your story, and marketing is how you tell that story,

Thanks for your time,

Jim Zitek

P.S. For more information, check out the blog post “Why your business growth strategy is your story.”

P.P.S. Also, look at “Innovative strategies for revenue growth: exploit market changes.”

 

How To Get Better Reults In Less Time

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

How To Get Significantly Better Results In Less Time

No one has enough time, especially business executives.

We always try to do more, learn more, and produce more. 

But there are only 1,440 minutes in a day, and no one gets more time, no matter who they are. 

But there are ways to get much more done and get better results if you know how to use your time correctly.

The following is from author and entrepreneur Kevin Kruse’s book, “Leaders Have No Rules.”

Enjoy.

Start by asking yourself these questions.  

What do I love doing? 

What is my expertise? 

What do I hate doing? 

What do I do that isn’t a priority? 

Here is the first step if your goal is increased productivity and faster, better results. 

Get rid of the jobs you hate to do and those that are not a priority. 

If you hate doing them, you are probably not very good at them either. 

Plus, they take more time than they should. Time is not a renewable resource. 

Maybe someone in the company loves that kind of work and would be happy to do it. 

If not, hire someone from the outside to do it. That’s probably less expensive than you doing it. 

You have just saved time and used it on higher-priority projects like driving revenues and profits. 

Wait, there is another way to use your time more effectively. 

What if you closed your office door, turned your phone and email off, and told people not to disturb you for three or four hours? 

The result would be no interruptions, no time for meanless chit-chat, no distractions from emails that were not critical, and more.

Imagine four hours free of disruption –every day –what you could accomplish with that much extra time.?

I’ll bet significantly more than twice as much.

Conclusion

Now, you can focus on the priority jobs where you have the expertise. 

That’s how you become an exceptional leader that gets better results in less time.  

Jim Zitek

Harbor Capital Group

It is a short week, so I kept this short

 

 

 

Want A Creative Solution To An “Unsolvable” Problem?

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

 

There Is A Creative Solution To Most Problems

 

You’ve done your research using (your analytics and other diagnoses) on the problem. Now you need a creative solution.

But all the research and data have looked backward at the information and concepts you already know.

You have to look forward, not just backward, to get an insightful or creative solution.

The way you do that is to use creative problem-solving techniques and tools.

If you do, you will be able to create a solution to your “unsolvable” problem.

 

 It isn’t that you can never get insight from all that research.

It can happen, but your mind already has all this information.

Your mind must be confronted with something new or different, requiring it to take an unfamiliar concept or word

and fight to fit it into your current mental database.

Therefore, the mind must fit this new word into what is already known and create a new concept.

Here is a simple example of how the creative minds works

Creativity is simply looking at things differently. Edward de Bono, in his book “Think,”

explains how the mind works this magic. Your mind continuously builds up knowledge over time.

Following is a game he uses to illustrate how the mind works. 

Start with the letter’ a’

Add the letter ‘t,’ and the new word is ‘at.’

Add ‘c”. The new term is ‘cat.”

Add o’. The new word is ‘coat.’

Add ‘r.,’ And things have to change. The new word is ‘actor”.  

But the letter ‘r’ required the mind to restructure the use of the previous words. This process is creativity.

Therefore, you need to get your mind off the traditional path to get new ideas.

A goes directly to B (the pattern already in your mind) and moves at a different angle

from the conventional thought pattern.

For example, you could use a random word to disrupt your known routine

and asymmetrically open your mind to a new way or idea you can choose to use or not.

This process also means that anyone can accomplish creativity.

It is a skill, not an exceptional talent only some people have.

Here is a great 4-minute video on creativity by Edward De Bono that you should see if you have time.

Use random word techniques to achieve creative solutions

You want to start by selecting some random words as your starting points.

One of the best ways is to use the dictionary. Open the dictionary to a random page,

put your finger on a random word, and select the closest word (a noun).

Choose about five more words. Write them down. 

 

Be sure you know the definition of each word because you will associate the characterizations of each word

with your focus idea or question (for example, create a new concept for a restaurant.).

Focus on the word and relate it to the question or problem you want to be solved. 

Work quickly through each word, but don’t judge your responses now.

Each idea response represents the possibility of a great idea.

Spend about 5-10 minutes exploring each random word. 

 

For example, focus on a concept for a new restaurant  Random word: wallet.

One concept would be a restaurant where people order food, pay immediately,

and take the food elsewhere to eat vs. ordering in, eating the food at the restaurant,

and only paying after eating. 

A restaurant where people are charged by the amount of time they spend at the restaurant. 

A restaurant known for one special, unique and expensive dish served at one particular time every day.  

This is only one creative technique of many. But, this random word technique is easy to use and can be done quickly.

We cover other techniques for individuals and teams as well.

 Creative Solution Concepts

According to Merriam-Webster, a concept is conceived in the mind: a thought, a notion.

For example, the concept of gravity.

The importance of concepts is developing alternatives and new ideas

by extracting the image and looking for ways to deliver this concept through a specific idea.

Ideas are a way of putting the concept into action.

The concepts you create can be functional or operational, and these concepts can be vague to very detailed.

You can create value concepts (why is this a value?)

Or purpose concepts (why are we doing this?) Also, descriptive ideas.

 

The importance of concepts is developing alternatives and new ideas

by extracting the concept and looking for ways to deliver this concept through a specific idea.

Ideas are a way of putting the concept into action.

There can be functional or operational concepts describing how something is done, from broad to detailed.  

There can be value concepts (why is this a value?)

Or purpose concepts (why are we doing this?)

And descriptive concepts.

Try this creative solution technique for yourself. 

Try it on a focus of yours. Take five words and give yourself 5-10 minutes for each word.

The more you do, the more you learn and the more ideas you will get.

Conclusion

You have to look forward, not just backward, to get an insightful or creative solution.

The way you do that is to use creative problem-solving techniques and tools.

If you do, you can create a solution to your “unsolvable” problem.

Creativity is simply looking at things differently.

Therefore, to get new ideas, you need to get your mind off the traditional path A to B

(the pattern already in your mind) and move at a different angle from the traditional thought pattern.  

The random word technique is a quick and efficient way to generate new concepts and ideas. 

The focus on a new kind of restaurant is an example.

The concepts you create can be functional or operational and can be very broad to detailed. 

 

To learn more about “How to get a creative solution to that “unsolvable” problem,” go to our website: https://https://harborcapitalgroupinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Braintopview-1.jpg.com. 

PS. You may also be interested in our blog post:   https://https://harborcapitalgroupinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Braintopview-1.jpg.com/a-strategy-for-business-growth-jim-zitek/

PPS. This post may be of interest as well: https://https://harborcapitalgroupinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Braintopview-1.jpg.com/want-better-sales-results-tell-your-real-story/

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope it gives you some food for thought.

Jim Zitek

 

Why Your Business Growth Strategy Is Your Story

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

Solve Their Problem, And The Money Is Yours.

 

 

 Many companies do not reach their revenue and sales goals.

A primary reason is that they jump right into marketing as a way to achieve their goal quickly.

Marketing tactics alone, while important, will not solve the customers’ problems. That’s your job. 

You need to tell prospects your real story, and the real story is your company’s insightful solution to their problem:

your business growth strategy. 

Your business growth strategy is your story. Marketing is how you tell your story. 

That’s the story you are passionate about because it solves their problem.

Solving their pain, as you know, is why you need a strategy first.  

 I think the “strategy is your story” line is from an article by Ben Horwitz

You need a strategy to solve your prospect’s problem to reach your goal.

Without a strategy, there is a big hole in your story.

You need to fill that hole. So, to get on track to meet your revenue goals, you first need a strategy (your story),

and only after you have your strategy can you effectively and passionately market your story.  

With a strategy, your product or service solves a targeted customer’s problem in a better or more desirable way.

Plus, a strategy includes a reachable and measurable pathway to reach your sales objective.   

A strategy also makes your marketing cost-effective.

Your message will target and focus on the specific solution the customer needs and wants.

There are five parts to creating an effective business growth strategy. 

 Following is a very condensed description based on Richard Rumelt’s book, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy.   

1. Understanding your goal and the number one problem in reaching that goal, then turning that goal into a specific, measurable objective.   

2. You need to diagnose the problem based on experience, research, analytics, and critical thinking skills, so the information is as objective as possible. 

3. Next, create new insights and concepts using creative thinking tools to solve the problem or take advantage of the opportunity. 

 4. Once you have the insightful solution needed, you need to define what the company will do and not do

This step is difficult because it means many” no’s” because of limited resources.

5. Finally, prepare a coherent plan to execute this strategy.

Now that you know your company’s growth strategy (story), you can begin telling that story.

But, your marketing program needs a strategy also because the market is very crowded.

And you have to stay coherent with your business strategy.

For example, about 70 million posts are made each month on WordPress  

So, how will you compete against all the other marketing messages?

You must be on page one or two of “Google’s” search results. 

 

Competition is stiff if you use inbound marketing like websites and blog posts.

You must have a strategy for your marketing programs, using the same process described above for the company strategy.

What can you say or write differently, uniquely, and on point with your strategy?

Most visitors do not go beyond the second page of Google’s results.

Therefore, you need a strategy to get your blog posts seen and then read.

And this problem exists for all the media. It’s not impossible, but it takes a plan and some time to accomplish.

Your marketing plan may include outbound marketing (like direct mail and advertising) and direct sales.

Most people are familiar with the different marketing platforms and programs, so I will not cover them here.

Allocation of resources

Strategy is also important because it requires you to allocate resources to the entire company program, including marketing.

Every company has resources that are limited for marketing also.

So, spend enough time and resources to make each program successful.  

Don’t put 100 dollars into ten programs because you want many leads.

You may have to put the $100 into one program and make that program successful.

Then you can expand into the next scheduled item.

With a business growth strategy, you can get measurable results.

Two words of caution

Marketing programs also take time, a precious resource, especially for “free” social marketing programs.

Also, marketing programs need to be tested and adjusted as required.

For example, $100 for advertising may need to be scheduled monthly to get the exposure frequency high enough to work.

Or you may have to plan $25 every three months. 

Also, focus on only the marketing plans and programs that support your overall strategy.

Every employee and every program must sync with your company’s business growth strategy if you want to deliver what you promise in your marketing messages. 

Remember, your strategy is your story, and marketing is how you tell that story.

The following are three ways to move your company forward and reach your goals.

If you want to create a business growth strategy or update your current story, Harbor has three ways to help you.

These three programs enable you to design and decide what you need and how much time you can devote to creating your company’s programs.

 

The ClickVisor internet program gives you the information you need anytime.

You don’t have to hunt for the info. Just click and learn.

Plus, new information is added weekly and monthly.

The data is divided into modules to access the information you want quickly.

 

Workshops discuss specific strategies like defining and articulating your value proposition.

Learning various innovative techniques to create new concepts and ideas, how to

create your Brand or differentiate your products and services, or how to

position your Brand against the competition to become the preferred choice.

  

Consulting Program is custom-designed to help you transform challenges into opportunities and

benefit from the power of business and marketing Strategies.

 They are one-on-one or team designed to help you through the entire strategy creation process.

If this program interests you, we will need to set up a phone appointment to discuss what needs to be done.

 

 Conclusion

 

There are many reasons companies move forward too quickly by spending money on marketing programs; just to be disappointed,

You need to have a strategy defined and in pace first.  Then you can create an effective marketing program.

If you take the time to get your strategy right first, you will save a lot of time and money

and have a higher probability of reaching your objectives.

 

To learn more about the concept of your strategy is your story. Marketing is how you tell your story;

go to our website: https://https://harborcapitalgroupinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Braintopview-1.jpg.com. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on having a written business strategy. Comment here.

 

PS. You may also be interested in our blog post: How you approach problem-solving matters.

PPS. And this post also: How To Define And Solve The “Real” Problem

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope it gives you some food for thought.

Jim Zitek

Innovative Strategies That Create More Profits

7 Effective Business Growth Strategies

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

Business Growth Strategies To Increase Revenues

 

 

 

After a difficult two years, and maybe another challenging year coming up, it may be time to update your current strategy

or create a new strategy to help deliver revenues and profits.

These 7 effective business growth strategies to increase revenues can help you do that.  

 Your business strategy covers much more than revenues; no one would read a blog that long.

So the focus here is on business growth strategies that create revenues.

Before we get started, a word of caution, because of the current economic situation and rising inflation, you have to put all of these strategies in perspective.

You may have to cut some expenses to raise money to implement new strategies, these strategies, 

Also, it’s essential to focus on your long-term goals. All right, let’s get started.

1. Increase Market Share Or Market Penetration

Of course, the way to do this is to keep trying to sell more products or services to your existing market.

Go back to your basic strategy model and reevaluate the initial assumptions you used to create your strategy.

But, do it for a positive analysis (how may I increase sales to our market?),

and Don’t use a negative statement (why can’t I increase sales to our market?). You are looking for new answers, not excuses.

For example, you might consider adding additional products or services.

Focus on a few products and increase the promotional budget on other products.

You can lower your costs on some products and use the savings to invest in other products.

You can also resegment your markets with a special offer, maybe find different suppliers, can you improve any of your current products, and more.

2. Develop New Markets 

Developing new markets is an excellent way to expand your revenues.

Not easy, but worth the time it takes to analyze the opportunities.

Looking for new markets should be something constantly on your radar.

Anticipating future events and changes is a powerful way to leverage your growth strategy.

For example, Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne’s book, “Blue Ocean Strategy,”

an analysis where you make a graph isolating each prominent feature of your company and your major competitors and the value customers put on each element.

This analysis quickly visualizes the differences between you and your competitors and should give you some food for thought.

You should get ideas on where to be more competitive and areas that may be open to new product entrants into the market.

3. Alternative Channels

You may already use different channels like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others.

Many other channels are now available, and the list is growing, including Parlor, Substack, and individual platforms.

Also, there are podcasts on every topic you can think of, and most are looking for people to talk to be on the show. 

Remember, however, that each of these additional channels will take a considerable time for you to use,

respond to and create material for use on the channel.

So, keep the number of channels in line with your available time.  

4. Product expansion

 

Product expansion is a great way to get additional penetration into existing and new markets.

Maybe it’s time to explore some of the product or service ideas you have thought about for some time. 

Also, you can use “creative design” to develop many new products or services.

You may not be able to think about new products and instantly come up with some ideas,

but you can use creative thinking tools. 

For example, anyone can use the “random word” tool and generate many ideas in minutes.

You pose a positive question and then use a random word (a noun) and apply the characteristics of that word to your positive question.

More information on this tool is available on our website and blog.

If you want to explore new products or services with a group of employees, you could use the “six hats” creative tool,

which is designed for groups and is much more effective than the old “brainstorming” technique.

You can also find more information about this innovative tool on our website and blog.

These creative tools are from Edward de Bono’s many books on creative thinking.

5. Market Segmentation

 

There is more to market segmentation than demographics.

Market segmentation is another practical possibility to achieve your business growth strategy.

If your market is large, you can use a different lens to look for new areas within that market,

like product purchases that go together, levels of usage, or psychographics or mindsets.  

If your market is small, you may be able to divide it into even smaller markets

or “splinter” markets by the customers’ own perceived product value.

For example, the auto industry is large but divided into many niche markets.

But, within these niche markets (e.g.luxury cars), there are splinter markets (they still have to be large enough to be profitable).

Think BMW, a luxury car for special people that want the “ultimate driving machine.”

Of course, you have to deliver that promise.

So, the entire company must sync with the strategy to deliver the promise.

And with a strategy, everyone should be in sync with the strategy.

Remember, your business growth strategy is your story, and marketing is how you tell your story.

Strategic Partnerships

 

Joining forces with other companies is one way to expand your reach and product capabilities.

Theis relationship should benefit both companies.

It could also be for reasons other than sales. You could get skills and resources that you don’t have and could use.

You could also go to act.com for additional information on the administration of working with many people.

This partnership could also be for sales. For example, you could exchange client lists or referrals to companies

with complementary products or services.

You are not in competition with each other; you complement each other.

Market Disruption

 

Market disruption means introducing a new product into a new market.

This idea started with Clayton Christensen and the concept of entering a new market with an inexpensive product and limited functionality. 

The large companies would ignore this new company because of its limited functions and low price, meaning no margin.

Then, the new company starts adding additional functions and value and, at the same time,

keeps getting more and more of the market.

Done right, in time, the company will become a significant player in the market.

  

Other business growth strategies

 

There are some other strategies out there that are more limited to specific kinds of businesses.

In other blog posts, we will write about these (like franchising and licensing deals).

 

Conclusion

 

The 7 effective growth strategies to increase revenues listed above are some of the ways you can become a more robust and profitable company

— especially in the challenging years ahead.

To stay on top of your market, it would be best if you continued updating your strategy

and anticipating new trends and opportunities to improve your business growth strategies. 

 Jim Zitek

 

PS. You might also be interested in our blog: Why your business growth strategy is your story

PPS. Also, check out: How To Turn Negative Problems Into Positive Results.

If you want to update your current strategy and need to create a new strategy, go to our website.

You can get started today for only $39 per month for three team members and no contract.

 

What Is Customer Lifetime Value? LTV

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

What Is Customer Lifetime Value? LTV

 

About 55% of companies with increasing revenues think customer lifetime value is “very important”, and 29% of companies with flat or declining revenues do not think it is very important according to a study by Hubspot. Which group makes more sense to you?

Here is why Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is critically important. it determines how much you can spend to acquire a new client based on your current client’s profitability. It gives you a picture of your business’s short-term and long-term status and financial viability.  It is also an indicator of product-market fit, client loyalty, and recurring revenue from existing clients.

When you know what a customer will spend with your business over time, you can consider more options for long-term planning. Yes, it does take some time depending on the depth of information you need. For example, knowing what the customer lifetime value is for each market segment is also very important. If you are a SaaS company and need extensive information almost daily, there are companies like Baremetrics that have the measurement and management tools to get you to the depth of knowledge you need.

There are two basic ways of calculating CLV, depending on what data you have available.

1 Accumulated data

If you have historical sales data, this method is far more accurate. It puts together all orders by individual customers to get their own real CLVs. 

2 Average estimate

If you don’t have granular data, you can estimate an average by the following formula: Average order value times number of orders per year.

How to calculate Customer Lifetime Value

For instance, if your customer base will, on average, buy ten times per year at $10 per transaction (or $100 per year) for ten years, the lifetime value of a customer is $1,000 (minus costs). If your profit is 25% of sales, the CLV is $250 (25% of $1,000). Therefore, you could technically afford to spend $250 to attract a single new customer. However, many marketers suggest that you do not spend more than 33% of CLV or, in this example, would be $82.50.

Another view. If you could improve each of the three CLV numbers by 10%, you would increase profits by 33 percent, giving you a profit of about $332 (plus $82). This additional profit could then be added to your marketing budget to grow even faster the following year.

Now, how can you improve each element of your customer’s lifetime value? 

Now that you know the lifetime value, you want to spend some serious time examining how you can improve your revenues and profits. This information will also give you a long-term look at your business and help you plan for the future. To improve your results, you should do the following things sequentially: 

  1. Increase the dollar amount of each sale to a customer. 
  2. increase the frequency that customers purchases from you. , 
  3. Try to increase the number of products or services you provide for your customers.
  4. Then, you can begin to increase your market share by going outside — to increase your market share by working on your competitor’s customers.

This process also forces you to look at different market and customer segments. For example:

  1. Who are your best customers and worst customers using CLV? How can you get more of the good customers and maybe less of the lower value customers? 
  2. Which products provide the most revenue and profits? Can you add value to your products and increase the price?  
  3. Which industry or market segments provide the most or least CLV? Are you in the best markets, best niches, and aiming for the best clients?

You also want to generate many alternative ways to increase your customer lifetime value.

Now, you can focus on developing many alternative ideas and practices to increase your CLV. You want to focus on your overall business strategy, potential innovations, and marketing strategy. More information is available on our ClickVisor program to help you accomplish these crucial tasks.  

Consider Multiple Marketing Approaches

This process also requires you to expand your marketing approaches based on the industries, segments, and types of customers. It is also a good idea to have more than one marketing approach that you continue to use long term. You need to try and test different approaches as the world, and people change. 

Customer lifetime value will change as you create and implement new programs

As you implement your marketing program, this lifetime value should change as the variables in the process change. So, reviewing your CLV regularly make sense. It will cause you to rethink many things you’re doing as you are always looking for ways to improve that number. 

 Conclusion 

Client Lifetime Value is an essential concept for every business. It goes hand in hand with customer repeat orders and retention. It is also a great concept to broaden your thinking about your company and its mission. Plus, businesses with a high CLV can service their client better and grow continuously over time.

Thanks for your interest. Learn more at our website.

Jim Zitek, ClickVisor Program

jzitek@https://harborcapitalgroupinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Braintopview-1.jpg.com 

P.S. We would love to get your thoughts on CLV.  Also, sign up for our free blog  posts at: https://https://harborcapitalgroupinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Braintopview-1.jpg.com

PPS. If you know someone who could use this information, please pass it on.

 

 

How To Create Strategies For Business Growth

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

How To Use Business Growth Strategies To Become A Superior Competitor  

 

If you are in a competitive market long-term, you will likely go out of business because eroding margins are the consequence of destructive competition.

Therefore, you need a powerful strategy for business growth to become a superior competitor.  

The good news is there are three strategies we will cover in this blog that you can repeatedly use:

keep creating new ideas and innovations to acquire new clients,

get them to purchase more,

and increase the number of times they buy each year.

Learn how to get out of that long-term competitive race with a superior, long-term strategy for business growth.

Our strategic framework will elevate your products and services over the competition—no more short-term tit-for-tat competitive strategy. 

You will have a process that will deliver endless business growth strategies, opportunities, and revenue growth, making you the market’s value leader.

Without the hype, buy now marketers we see so much of today.

 

This Strategy For Business Growth Blog Will Briefly Cover:  

1. How to make better decisions more often. It covers expertise and critical thinking from one’s perspective and vision.

2. Then, three ways to increase revenues and what you can afford to spend to acquire a new client.

3. And then, we will discuss only three things — business growth strategy, creative insights, and marketing strategy —

you can repeatedly use to keep improving value and increasing revenues and profits. 

Let’s talk about decision-making first because you may want to change how you approach decision-making.

And we know you must make many daily decisions as a business leader. So, let’s start with a question.

 

With So Many Growth Strategy Decisions, How Often Do CEOs Make The Right Decision?

The answer is 52%. You only have to make the right decision 52% of the time to be a top decision-maker — 2% more than the flip of a coin.

Remember New Coke or the Edsel car? Billions were spent and lost by brilliant people making poor decisions.

Why is this number so low? The first reason may surprise you. It’s due to our reliance on expertise.

They specialize in their industry, markets, and products to get to the top of their company and industry.

They have built a kind of wall around their perception of the world.

They know the norms of their industry and are comfortable. So they are comfortable making informed decisions.  

 

Many Executives Have Put Themselves In A “Limited Perception Box.”

Executives often limit their business and industry worldview.

This limits their situational perception, which is a significant reason they can’t get past 52%. 

For example, If you looked at the front of a house, you would have a real, accurate perception of that house.

If someone else looks at that house from the rear, they would have a different and precise perception of it. 

 

Here’s a fun perception example that I like from Edward de Bono.

This group of 12-year-old boys tends to pick on or tease Bobby because the group thinks it’s fun.

They show him two coins one day, a large one (worth $1) and a smaller one. (worth $2).

Bobby picks the large one, and the group laughs and has a good time at Bobby’s expense.

They do this several times over the summer. 

One day, an older man sees what’s happening and afterward tells Bobby that the smaller coin is worth twice as much as the larger one.

Bobby says I know that. But, if I had taken the $2 coin, they would never have kept offering him the opportunity again and again.

Perceptions can be valuable and increase opportunities.

This short story shows how vital your perception is,

and the broader your perception, the better you will be at solving problems, coming up with new ideas, and making good decisions.

You can’t limit your perception of your industry, market, or how you think about your company.

 

Why “Perception” Matters When You Are Trying To Create Business Growth Strategies

 If I asked you what you do, you might answer: I own a hardware store, I am a doctor, or I manufacture light fixtures, or whatever.

You probably would say yes if I asked if you wanted to grow the business. 

So, now let me REFRAME your answer by changing your perception,

Let’s say your first answer was. “I own a hardware store, and I sell products and services.

That perception may then limit your market growth.

But what if you reframed your answer to, “I own a marketing company that sells hardware and services.”

Now, you have a different and much broader perception of what you do and how you would approach your objective or goal differently.  

 

Your job is marketing which means you focus on increasing sales and profits.

You can now focus on ethically building your company, sales, and profits, not as a hustler.

This change in perspective gives you a broader perspective and have you searching for ways to market your business by focusing on your clients.

Note: your focus is now on the client because a client is someone you care about and want to help solve their problems. A customer is a transitory perspective.

 

There Are Only Three Traditional Ways To Get Additional Revenues.

1.  Increase the number of your clients. Start by looking at the “lifetime value” of the client.

If you sell a product for 1,000 dollars, the client makes a purchase once per year,

and the average customer remains a client for five years; the lifetime value of that client is $5,000. 

I assume you would prefer the $5,000 to the $1,000. So, you now know you can spend up to $5,000 (less your costs) to acquire a new client.

If you could increase the number of clients by 10%, you would increase your revenues by 33.5 percent.

2. Increase the average size of the orders

Start by satisfying the client with add-ons or solving the client’s problem better or differently, which might require additional or different items.

Maybe the way they sell cars.

After you agree to purchase the car, they show you the sunroof to make your driving more fun, the better radio that brings in more stations, and more. 

3.  Increase the number of times they buy each year

Create other ways for clients to use your products or services.

A great example is American Express or Visa, which enables you to purchase plane tickets, theater tickets, and a frequent flyer miles incentive program.

Or maybe a special spring and fall sale at your store for current, specially invited clients only.

Those are all excellent traditional things you could do to improve your revenues. But an even better approach will give you continuous revenue growth.

 

How To Achieve A Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Generally, if you are in a competitive market long-term, you will likely go out of business because of eroding margins

due to the problematic competitive nature of competition. 

But, there are only three strategies you can repeatedly do to keep coming up with new ideas to get new clients and get them to purchase more,

plus increase the number of times they buy each year.

Revenue Opportunities Start With Your Strategy For Business Growth. 

Using your new perception, create a new strategy for your business

based on your goal or a problem that needs to be solved to reach your objective or goal.

We could talk for days about what strategy is, but Richard Rumelt, author and professor,

explains a practical and straightforward definition that makes a complex description simple and easy to understand

 

A strategy Process Is: 

1. Identify and define your problem or objective.

2. Diagnose the objective or situation (data is essential but not sufficient) because you rarely come up with new insight

because your mind is dealing with the information you already know

3. Innovate through insight and creative thinking. There are many innovative techniques you can use to create new ways of solving problems, and knowing how to reach the objective,

4. There is never enough time or money to do everything, so you must prioritize and ensure the solution conforms to your strategy

4. Prepare a coherent plan and execute it.

There is never enough time or money to do everything, so you must prioritize and ensure the solution conforms to your business growth strategy.

 

Then Creativity And Innovation:

I need to talk about innovation briefly because many people think they are not creative, but everyone is creative.

Again, Edward de Bono shows why your mind is set up to be creative.

It requires you to learn innovative techniques to put your mind in gear to do the creative work.

And it’s a great way to get business growth strategy ideas.

Humor is a beautiful example of how the brain works.

Humor indicates how our information system gives rise to perception and how you can see the world differently.

You might enjoy this example from a Winston Churchill story. 

A woman MP meets Churchill in the hallway (after lunch and a few drinks) and says to him,

“If I were married to you, I should put poison in your coffee.”

And he replies, “and if I were married to you, I should drink the coffee.” 

Our information system gives rise to perceptions and how you can see the world differently.

Perceptions set up in one way can suddenly be reconfigured in another way. Humor is the essence of creativity. 

One can use many creative thinking techniques to create different concepts, insight imaging, and ideas and turn them into innovations.

For example, the random word technique is an easy and quick way to get many ideas.

See our blog post, “How to turn negative problems into positive results. or Michael Muchalko’s book, “ThinkerToys.”  

 

Then Marketing Strategies For Business Growth

Marketing strategy and tactics are the third groups of tools we can repeatedly use to reach our objectives.

It begins with the same strategy format explained above — objective, diagnosis, insight, and a coherent execution plan — but is applied to marketing strategy.

Apply a market strategy to every tool used. For example, you need a marketing strategy in b2b for your website, blogs or ads, publicity, and other marketing tools.

You might want to see our blog posts on websites and value propositions.

For example, over one million blog posts are created every day.

How would a potential client find and read your blog post?

You need material the client is looking for, not necessarily the material you want to give him;

you need to be different and have a strategy and some creative insights to make it effective.    

Also, because your perspective is now broader, you can use marketing strategies and tactics – from any industry-

to get new clients, get them to purchase more items, and buy more often. 

 

Conclusion

Long-term, it is difficult to compete profitably in a competitive market because of eroding margins.

However, you can win this competitive race with better thinking, a broader perspective, and tools that can be used repeatedly.

To achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, you need to start with your business strategy for growth and keep adapting it to market and buyer changes.

Then use your creativity — everyone is built to be creative. It is a learned skill, not a talent. Learn to create ideas and then turn them into innovations.

Then create your marketing strategy for each objective and program  — like website, blogs, advertisements, publicity, etc. — you will use and make sure you also have a coherent execution plan.

How will you use this approach to strategy for business growth to drive more revenues and profits?

Tell us what you think  Also, if you would like more information like this blog post, sign up for our free blog post program.

PS. You might also be interested in the blog post, Why Your Business Growth Strategy Is Your Story.

 How To Repeatedly Make Sound Decisions  

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

 Make Sound Decisions Repeatedly

A survey of top executives showed that executives only make “sound decisions” 52% of the time.

That’s only 2% better than flipping a coin. So if you could improve just a few percent, you could be

in an elite class of decision-makers who make sound decisions repeatedly.

Why is it only 2% better than flipping a coin? There are three reasons:

1. Their extensive industry knowledge and expertise.

2. Their reliance on analysis and critical thinking

3. Their self-limiting perspective.

 

Industry expertise can hurt your ability to make sound decisions.

 

In becoming a decision-maker, you have accumulated extensive knowledge and experience in your industry, market, products, and services.

You have talked to many customers. You know how what works and what doesn’t work.

You have established patterns, processes, and a culture of how “we do it here.”

While all of this is necessary, it has also established automatic thought patterns, which you can refer to quickly.

And at the same time, it limits your ability to think outside of your industry and market

to understand how other markets and industries might think about and handle the problem or opportunity.

So they decide based on the past rather than exploring new ways to think about the problem or opportunity.

Hearing about how a different market does something often gives them ideas on

how they might use this idea or process to solve a problem or improve their strategy, product, or service.  

All this built-in knowledge and experience keeps them from repeatedly making sound decisions.

 

Over-reliance on analysis prevents making sound decisions. 

 

 We learned that gathering enough information and analyzing the data thoroughly

was the “the way” to solve problems and create a better way forward.

Unfortunately, making data-driven decisions often does not work because analyzing the data is all about the past, not the future.

So, if you need to move forward into the future, all those old solutions and ideas will not work.

Here’s an article from Forbes if you want another view.  

Critical thinking is a good process and should be used,

but the object of critical thinking is to judge whether the information you have is correct or not, true or not.

That is undoubtedly important to understand the problem or opportunity,

but it will not help you look into the future to solve this new problem or exploit this unique opportunity.

The goal, of course, is to make sound decisions repeatedly.

Here is a traditional view of critical thinking from the Critical Thinking Organization.

 

Limited perception inhibits making sound decisions. 

 

 The first and maybe the most important thing you need is to see the problem or opportunity.

In other words, your perception. It is your perception that will design a solution.

One of the best ways to explain this is with an example. Here is one from Edward de Bono.

A group of 12-year-old boys was always picking on Bobby, one of the boys.

Because that is what they do at that age, one day, they showed Bobby two coins,

a larger one worth one dollar and a smaller one worth two dollars, and they told Bobby

he could pick one of the coins and keep it.

Bobby picked the larger coin, and the other boys laughed and talked about how dumb Bobby was. 

They made this offer whenever they wanted a good laugh at Bobby’s expense.

One day an older man saw what they were doing and told Bobby that the smaller coin was worth twice as much as, the larger coin.

Bobby said he knew that. But if he took the two-dollar coin, they wouldn’t keep returning and giving him additional coins.

 

Conclusion

 

Expertise and analysis are essential, but you must look forward rather than just backward

and broaden your perception if you want to move forward.

So, your perception of the situation is often not considered and is critical to your decision.

That is how you will make sound decisions repeatedly. 

 

You will want to check out our blog post, “How To Get Significantly Better Results In Less Time.”

Also, check out our website, How To Create Strategies That Turn Goals Into Results.