Columbus, OH - Please pardon my grammar, but hear my message. The world has changed and your business model may need some re-engineering.
Long ago, a merchant would open a shop and repair shoes for people that needed heels or soles. Farmers would grow crops and sell them to gain income to support the farm. Restaurants would serve good-tasting meals to the same people every week with the same tastes. Dry cleaners would clean suits and dresses and return them to the customer until the next cleaning was needed.
Wouldn’t you agree that these models are not broken? People still need these goods and services. However, if you scan the environment, new concepts and customers have invaded the market place with different needs, desires, and demands. Are you comfortable in your environment and have a routine operation? Is your business model based upon current data or what’s worked in the past? Let’s look closely at the business model definition.
Investopedia says this regarding the definition of the business model:
The plan implemented by a company to generate revenue and make a profit from operations. The model includes the components and functions of the business, as well as the revenues it generates and the expenses it incurs.
The discussion of business models emerged during the dot.com revolution when websites became hugely popular, but didn’t have an income stream. Fortunately, the originators realized that capturing the customer’s attention was important to advertisers, and began charging for advertising space on the sites. From this point, innovation became the mantra for businesses to compete in the global market for goods and services. Innovation is the term used for transferring a unique idea to the marketplace ,where customers perceive new value. Innovation is what is missing from many business models today.
How do you know if your business model is broken or needs adjustment? Here are a few clues:
- A decline in sales, either gradually or immediate, can be an indication that the market for your product or services has changed. Check your records to see if regular customers are missing or reducing their purchases.
- A visual inspection of who’s in the room is another way to check the landscape. If your customers look different than the ones you had last month or year, check to see who they are. You may be attracting a new customer that offers an opportunity to do some marketing research on what they perceive to be your brand value.
- New participants from all directions can also signal time for a change. The internet can offer great insight into who’s doing what in the world. Even though the participant is not in your backyard, he/she could be soon. Marketing research is critical in this era of immediate and transparent movement.
- Employees leaving for other jobs may also indicate a broken model. If employees get bored or are attracted to competitors, your business model may be obsolete. When valuable people leave your business, knowledge travels with them and your business must replace the void with technology or training a new person from scratch.
- Your technology is dated and manual systems still exist. When systems are slow and inaccurate, competitors have the upper hand by offering new benefits with increased profitability. If you are not using the web to attract and retain customers, then your business model is definitely broken and on life support.
- The language of your business had changed and you need an interpreter. When new words and terms appear that are foreign to your ears, you may be out of touch with the industry.
- The terms of engagement have changed and you perceive risk. Government regulations, industry standards, or taxes threaten your existing operation and you don’t know what to do.
- You don’t network. You don’t know who or what is moving into your lane, let alone moving into your industry.
Some entrepreneurs are creating new markets with new business models that previously didn’t exist. These blue sky innovators reach into an existing business model and insert new benefits that attract entirely new customers. An example of this trend is Nike. Before this giant emerged, tennis shoes were rubber soled items that laced up and kept you from falling on the gym floor or tennis court. Then Nike decided that sneakers were more than shoes and implanted fashion and celebrity appeal into the brand. Michael Jordan helped Nike make zillions with this strategy. Prices skyrocketed because Nike convinced the consumer that tennis shoes were a necessity, regardless of the cost, and were intended to enhance the owner’s physical and social appeal.
The world has changed and maybe it’s time you looked at your business model. Just because you have income and customers at the moment doesn’t mean your business model is sustainable. Even if it isn’t totally broken today, it could be cracked. Fix it for the future now and stay ahead of the competition.
Columbus, Ohio - In establishing a brand for myself, I came up with the title of Social Mediaologist. I had never seen or heard of the title before, but created it because of my love for social media reading, studying, and research. I have a saying, on my social network pages, “did you just blink?” You may ask, why? Glad you asked! Constant change. People are the finger on the pulse, they are the heartbeat of change within the online communities. Trends in the way people use social media are constantly changing. Every time new tools, applications (apps), websites, services or communities are launched, with it comes new ideas, practices and opportunities for marketing your business.
Today, I’m going to give you, in several blinks, the heads up on Twitter. One of the social media network’s that is constantly changing.
Twitter – None, low and medium
What’s the value of your tweets? Starting Wednesday, Feb 20th, Twitter has announced it will start assigning value ratings to users’ tweets using: none, low and medium. A “high” value option will be rolled out later. Implementing this rating system is to benefit the Twitter developers. It will allow them to better sort through the millions of tweets to find the data that is useful to them. In other words, they would like to cut through the noise, the meaningless tweets. How the tweets will be rated, has not been disclosed. There is speculation, that large companies and people with a high number of followers and retweets, will get the higher value ratings. And those with a smaller following, may end up with “none” or “low” ratings.
It will be interesting to see how many people and small businesses will take the “none” or “low” ratings personally. It may cause a “dominoes effect”. It may drive away Twitter users’, from the social network itself. Those who are potential clients, customers and prospects (none and low ratings Twitter users’) of the “medium and high” value rated larger companies. What do you think? Let’s see how this value rating strategy plays out for the developers. To read more about this, click here.
Vine Effect – The next big thing
Late last year, Twitter, launched the Vine app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This video sharing app is like Instagram (mobile photo sharing) hooking up with YouTube, and the icing on the cake is being able to share the videos on your blog, your social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and the Vine app itself. You can video in six-second clips, which loops along with 140 characters. Users can follow, like and comment on the video clips.
Six ways your business can use Vine? 
- Introduce or promote your company, products and promotions
- Educate your target audience with “How To” Vines then upload it to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Vine app
- Go behind the scenes of your business, highlight an employee
- Campaign or contest teaser introductions with URL for more information
- Pose interesting questions about your products or services
- Show some gratitude, thank your customers
Vine is a free app, available on the iPhone and iPad. You can download it from the App Store.
In several blinks of the eye, I have shared Twitter news tip and marketing strategy. What do you think will happen with the Twitter rating system? Vine is a quick easy way to market your business. What do you think of Vine? When you try Vine, share the link with me.
Columbus, Ohio - In establishing a brand for myself, I came up with the title of Social Mediaologist. I had never seen or heard of the title before, but created it because of my love for social media reading, studying, and research. I have a saying, on my social network pages, “did you just blink?” You may ask, why? Glad you asked! Constant change. People are the finger on the pulse, they are the heartbeat of change within the online communities. Trends in the way people use social media are constantly changing. Every time new tools, applications (apps), websites, services or communities are launched, with it comes new ideas, practices and opportunities for marketing your business.
Today, I’m going to give you, in several blinks, the heads up on Twitter. One of the social media network’s that is constantly changing.
Twitter – None, low and medium
What’s the value of your tweets? Starting Wednesday, Feb 20th, Twitter has announced it will start assigning value ratings to users’ tweets using: none, low and medium. A “high” value option will be rolled out later. Implementing this rating system is to benefit the Twitter developers. It will allow them to better sort through the millions of tweets to find the data that is useful to them. In other words, they would like to cut through the noise, the meaningless tweets. How the tweets will be rated, has not been disclosed. There is speculation, that large companies and people with a high number of followers and retweets, will get the higher value ratings. And those with a smaller following, may end up with “none” or “low” ratings.
It will be interesting to see how many people and small businesses will take the “none” or “low” ratings personally. It may cause a “dominoes effect”. It may drive away Twitter users’, from the social network itself. Those who are potential clients, customers and prospects (none and low ratings Twitter users’) of the “medium and high” value rated larger companies. What do you think? Let’s see how this value rating strategy plays out for the developers. To read more about this, click here.
Vine Effect – The next big thing
Late last year, Twitter, launched the Vine app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This video sharing app is like Instagram (mobile photo sharing) hooking up with YouTube, and the icing on the cake is being able to share the videos on your blog, your social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and the Vine app itself. You can video in six-second clips, which loops along with 140 characters. Users can follow, like and comment on the video clips.
Six ways your business can use Vine?
- Introduce or promote your company, products and promotions
- Educate your target audience with “How To” Vines then upload it to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Vine app
- Go behind the scenes of your business, highlight an employee
- Campaign or contest teaser introductions with URL for more information
- Pose interesting questions about your products or services
- Show some gratitude, thank your customers
Vine is a free app, available on the iPhone and iPad. You can download it from the App Store.
In several blinks of the eye, I have shared Twitter news tip and marketing strategy. What do you think will happen with the Twitter rating system? Vine is a quick easy way to market your business. What do you think of Vine? When you try Vine, share the link with me.
- See more at: http://grapevinecolumbus.com/index.php?id=3383#sthash.tGtftmD3.dpuf
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Iris Cooper (614) 750-1870 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
http://www.justaskiris.com/