Has Your Business Outlived it’s Relevancy?

What has happened to Sears over the years? Once the #1 retailer in the world.

What about J.C. Penney? Founded in 1902, how relevant are they today?

Companies today rise and fall…Some faster than others. WHY?

In this dynamic world – everybody suffers but staying strong and relevant is important for enduring competition and surviving. Else we will be crushed.

BANKRUPT COMPANIES

Kodak
TWA – Trans World Airlines
Lehman Brothers
Chrysler
Nokia
Blackberry

These companies either shut down or filed for bankruptcy or became insolvent! Why?

GROWING COMPANIES

Google
Apple
IBM
Intel
Samsung
Sony

These depict growing organizations. Google is a great at anticipating trends. They anticipated the rising trend of people seeking information and developed their powerful search engine that is #1 in the world.

How are these bankrupt or insolvent companies different from growing companies?

Why does a company become irrelevant over the years?

In reality, companies capitulate when they loose touch with consumers and fail to spot emerging market trends.

Great companies evolve and change to keep pace. Irrelevant companies do not.

Every company, in their lifetime, reaches a crossroad where some hard decisions are needed. One road might demand a paradigm shift like Intel. While the other, although seemingly a safe one, may turn into a dead end. Remember Kodak?

How many small to large size businesses have outlived their relevancy to their market today? Outlived it in any of a number of ways.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Social Media is a trend that many businesses and individuals are failing to grasp the relevancy.

Social Media can play a hugh role in your business staying relevant. Gone are the days of set it and forget it. You must remain top of mind with your customers, and potential customers in a noisy world.

The Internet has profoundly changed the way we do business. Research shows 93% of customers now search the Internet for products and services. Most on their mobile device.

Do you have a website?
Is it optimized for search?
Is it optimized with the right keywords?
Do you have a Social Media presence? Is it active and engaging?
Are you maximizing your efforts to brand your business and bring in new customers?

If your competition has a website…and is active in multiple social media platforms and optimized for search.

How will customer and potential customers find you?

Some questions to ask yourself?

1. Am I knowledgeable about what Social Media Platforms work best for my business?

2. Do I have the skills necessary to be successful using Social Media?

3. Do I have a strategy?

4. Am I committed daily to using Social Media Marketing?

5. Am I tying my goals and objectives to my Social Media Strategy?

So, what we should do to stay relevant? There can be multiple suggestions but any CEO should answer one question: Is the company adding value to customers? An honest and satisfactory answer can ensure that the company stays relevant. Here are some tips;

1. ANALYZE THE TREND – what are the mega trends emerging in the market? Whoever catches that trend early on and align accordingly will flourish and others will flounder. Think EARLY ADOPTER.

2. CREATE LOYALTY – Each company operates on certain strongholds. They must create loyalty and enough stickiness for their customers to stay on happily.

3. CREATE DIFFERENTIATION – Any organization has to remain unique from their customer’s perspective and not another “Me too”. They have to answer whether anybody would miss them if they cease to exist. If not then serious introspection is needed. What is your unique Selling Proposition?

4. ADDING VALUE –Today’s delightful proposition becomes a standard package tomorrow. So, one must answer, “am I adding value”? Continuous and fruitful engagement, resulting into customers getting more than they pay for, is necessary to remain relevant

5. INCREASE EFFICIENCY – Any organization has to start a process of doing things better, faster and cheaper than competition. This will add cushions in the bottom-line which can be used in rainy days.

Socrates’ famous advice: “A life unexamined is not worth living.” I believe separately that a business that is not constantly being examined is not worth owning.