3 QUESTIONS To Lead You To Success How to Generate and Assess Ideas
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fact: Many people assume print marketing sucks for millennials and Gen Z — until they look at the research. Out of all demographics, 20-somethings are the largest consumer of print catalogs, and they spend approximately 50% more time browsing them on average than they do browsing websites. It’s no wonder print is part of almost every business’s foundation. 3. Nurture your clients with information that provides value. Don’t just spam your clients with your latest offer and call it a day. To keep them long-term, you need to nurture them with usable, entertaining, beneficial content through your newsletter and other marketing channels. Solve their problems! Make them laugh! Remember, your clients have unlimited choices about who they do business with. Why would they go with the person who is always trying to sell them something? 4. Deliver everything you promise — and a little bit more. I don’t care if a client has bought from you 100 times. You still need to impress them! Your existing customers are money, so treat them at least as well as you treat your prospects, and follow up to show them you care. 5. Simplify your products and processes. In slow times, business owners look around and think, “What I really need to fill this revenue gap is three new startups, two new products, and seven new product lines.” Stop! This just spreads your team thin and produces half- assed work. You can get away with that in a good economy, but in a bad economy, you might as well tie a rock around your neck and drop it off a bridge. 6. Create and document company systems. Systems make your life easier in every area of business. When you create a system to address a problem and hand that system off to your team, they can tackle it quickly and free up valuable time and resources. There’s no time to waste. I’m not saying that your business will definitely go under in a recession if you don’t do these six things. It might not! But you’ll make your life a lot harder. Would it have been better if you’d done all of this six months ago, a year ago, or 10 years ago? Heck yes! But it’s not too late as long as you act fast. Take steps now to recession-proof your business and get ready to dominate as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Maybe, like my friends from the beginning of this article, your opportunity will come with the next election. Maybe it will come from one of your competitors going under because they didn’t prepare when they should have. Either way, you need to be ready to seize it. If you put all of these pieces in place, you’ll be the top dog in your market when the economy turns around!
Good ideas are priceless, and no business will succeed without them. But inspiration doesn’t always strike spontaneously. Coming up with unique and valuable concepts is hard work — and consistently doing so is even more challenging. Fortunately, author and professor Robin Landa has a solution. She outlines it most fully in her book “The New Art of Ideas: Unlock Your Creative Potential,” but the basics are pretty simple. To generate great ideas, she says you must ask yourself three essential questions. What is the goal? New ideas must have a purpose, so start by determining what yours is. According to Landa, you should avoid getting lost in the weeds by selecting one goal at a time and focusing on your most pressing goal first. Maybe your goal is to roll out a successful new product, increase employee retention, or convince your customers to refer their friends. Or perhaps you’re thinking bigger and aiming to revolutionize your industry. A clear understanding of what you hope to accomplish will inspire valuable ideas to help you meet your goal. What is the gap? Businesses often find success by providing a missing piece to a puzzle. No matter what industry you work in, gaps or areas are undoubtedly left untapped and unexplored. Consider what your customers need that no one else has provided. Are there unsolved problems that require a solution or a demographic the current market has yet to serve? Further, have there been other efforts to address that gap — and if so, why did they fail? Once you determine the missing piece, you’ve found the
businesses! Right now, everyone agrees that if we’re not in a full-on recession, we’re at least stuck in a slow economy, so you should think about adjusting your marketing copy and tactics. The sooner you take action on this, the better. I do it, and I swear it’s one reason Newsletter Pro tends to grow more and do better in bad economic times, when we remind people that it’s a heck of a lot easier to sell to past and existing customers who know, like, and trust you than it is to win over new ones. We also remind business owners that when you keep those same customers happy, you get more referrals! Our product does great in good times too, of course, but we see a large influx of business when the economy slows down. Making similar pivots can help you remove fear from your business, become as recession-proof as possible, and ensure you’re ready to grow, strike, and dominate as soon as the market gets better. But before you start adjusting your marketing with the times, you need to make sure your business has a solid foundation.
beginning of an idea. What is the gain?
6 Steps to a Solid Foundation When money is cheap, customers are abundant, and when we all have a bunch of money in our pockets, we can get away with being sloppy. Every one of us is guilty of letting the basics slide at one point, even though it’s a horrible business practice. You can’t change the past. But if you clean up your act and nail down these six basics, you’ll set yourself up for success in the future. 1. Invest in customer relationship management (CRM) software and fill it with customer data. My team surveyed our customers two years ago and found that only 35% of them have an active CRM system. I was shocked! This is an absolute must. 2. Meet your current clients where they are. You need to know where your customers are so you don’t waste time or money on marketing where they aren’t. If you’re not sure which channels are the best for your demographic, do some research. Check your email open rates. Survey your clients. Read the studies. Fun
Landa argues that having a money-making idea isn’t enough — you should also aim to have one that will benefit humanity. Not all goals are worthy; some can be actively harmful to mental or physical health, the environment, or even the fabric of our society. Stop and ask yourself how your idea will add value. Your concept doesn’t need to change the world, but it should respond to a desire, address a pain point, provide a service, or solve a problem. It’s the ultimate test to determine whether your idea is constructive or likely to fall flat. When you’re struggling to generate new ideas, considering your goal and working through each of the three questions will help you move past a creative block. But you don’t necessarily need to start at the top of the list — if the gap or gain occurs to you first, don’t fight it. The remaining questions will help you hone your concept into one that’s effective and ready to present to others. After considering the Three G’s, you can feel confident your resulting idea has value.
- Shaun
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