Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

(And, you may need more than one box - if you’ve got more than one target market…)

I met with a new client yesterday, doing one of my “Entrepreneur Sanity Checks” which got me to thinking once again (uh-oh!) about the challenges of new ventures.

Tom Peters believes not only should we think way outside the box, but we should burn the darned thing. And, I’m all for thinking creatively and taking gutsy leaps. However, I also believe you need to start with the box. Otherwise, you can burn a lot of time (and money) that you may not be able to afford. (This can happen in even mega-companies - seen it happen more than once in my travels.)

I work with many “Mom & Pop” clients here in NM - smart, fearless folks, all - with interesting ideas and products. But, they also often find themselves in crisis mode since they leaped without looking…or writing a business plan…or a marketing plan…(or keeping something in the magic cookie jar for the rainy biz days). Unfortunately, there are way too many business consultants, marketing companies and web hobbyist developers that are more than happy to take those folks’ money and give ‘em pre-canned advice and quicky deliverables with no consideration of business strategy or goals. And, then there’s all that “free” help that’s available to small businesses. Sadly, in most cases the old adage “you get what you pay for” applies - and the enterpreneur ends up with textbook outlines (”Write a marketing plan in just one day!”) and “one size fits all” advice.

So - sure - if you’re thinking of launching a new product or business, you need to think outside the box and take big leaps, but you should also have some idea of where you want to land before you spend your first dollar on the “fancy stuff” such as brochures, web sites, and advertising.