Recently I gave a presentation to a group of business owners and personal development experts at the Leadership Academy Mastermind Group in London which was co founded by Steve Oxlade. I covered many specific aspects of the marketing strategy process that I use when consulting with businesses to often take their business ideas from conception to implementation.
As a marketing consultant who started his career working in Research and Development having studied electrical and electronic engineering as an undergraduate; I have a strong foundation in technology and am always looking for ways to use the new technologies to make business more efficient. One of the questions I posed to the group was – which comes first, economic growth or technological growth. For the purpose of this post we cannot get deep into the economics that defines the answer, however the correct response is that economic growth is preceeded by technological growth. The example can be given where a company purchases a machine to perform the work that is ordinarily carried out by 10 people, the new machine now requires one person to operate it. Now the other nine people can be used by the business to develop new skills in order to perform additional tasks. The new technology will allow the company to produce more output when all things are considered.
The point to this is to get businesses to take a fresh and different look at the internet and how to use the internet within ones business strategy. Most small work from home business and other companies know that they should have a website however, in most cases that website is not positioned as a key part of the overall sales and marketing strategy of the organisation. When designing business strategies I spend a significant amount of time with client working on the concept of ‘internet channel marketing’ that is :- getting business owners to view the internet as a marketing channel to build and establish their brand, to connect with other businesses in the same industry.
The technology that is developing in the form of the internet (internet marketing) should be viewed as the most wonderful technological advancement that all businesses can use to build their brands and ultimately increase revenues. The key is to have someone in your organisation who has the expertise to take advantage of blogging, podcasting, video marketing, forums, directories and all the other components that are necessary in order to use the internet effectively within your business. If you are are small organisation, the thing to do is not to try to learn all that is needed but to hire a consultant as appropriate in order to get moving in the shortest period of time possible in terms of using the internet as a marketing channel to drive your business. In this way the company can focus on their core competencies such as enhancing their skills and getting into business, sales and marketing negotiations with potential clients and partners.
Interested in hearing if you have any comments on this, you are always welcome to get in touch if there is anything I can do to help you drive your business forward.
Best,
Stephen C Campbell
