A lesson I have learnt in life is the value of having someone you respect and admire to act as your role model. I recently attended an incredible four-day Anthony Robbins seminar in Sydney and a large part of this event was focused on the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people and having powerful role models, both personally and professionally.
I have experienced the value of this first hand on many occasions and I think that the concept can be extended to cover marketing a business. There really are some incredible businesses out there that seem to really market themselves magnificently. They always appear in the right places, their advertising is really affective and when you visit the business they deliver on their promise. These businesses do really well for obvious reasons.
Knowing what to do and how to do it is not that instinctive for most of us. In fact the main marketing issues facing many business owners is simply identifying what needs to be done, how to do it and when to do it.
My advice is to find your business role model. Specifically find one of those businesses that seem to get it right all the time. They are out there, even if they are rare. It doesn’t have to be the same kind of business as yours, but it does help it they are.
Take the time to really observe this business. Study it, visit it, buy things from it, look at their advertising, talk to their customers and find out exactly why everything they do seems to work so well. Then compare each aspect of your role model business with your own business and identify what you could improve and most importantly how it could be improved.
From here it really is a simply process to fill the gaps and get your business on track. Make up a simple list of the things you need to improve and most practically how you plan to improve them.
Removing emotion from this process is a good idea. Be totally analytical on your review. I find that those businesses and individuals who are financially very successful are always looking for ways to do what they do better. They are constantly evolving and growing and improving what they do. A great saying I heard recently was – “if you aren’t growing you are dying” and I believe this to be very true both personally and professionally.
To succeed in business, and remembering that there are many ways to measure success not just financial, I strongly believe we need to be evolving in all that we do. We are in an incredibly competitive age and this competition is only going to keep increasing. If you find marketing a complex issue and one where you really don’t know where to start following the above process will certainly push you in the right direction. Take the time you need to find the right business role and model and along the way you might find a personal role model as well. Become a great observer and mirror what they, adapting it along the way to suit you and the results will soon speak for themselves.
Hi Andrew
just wanted to stop and say hi. We are both in the same town, both ardent supporters of the Abused Child Trust and share many business acquaintances (my partner is ex Kleinhardt and when I grow up I’m going to look like Wendy Ackland).
Have just linked to your blog site. Are you aware of the Carnival of Australia and the list of top 100 Australian Bloggers?
And in relation to this blog – my aims are high. What Oprah Winfrey has done for child sexual assault prevention is what I aspire to. I’ve got a guest spot on her show in mind for raising awareness of child protection via blogging as a platform for social change.
Hi Andrew,
I attended your key note speaking at the http://www.bni.com.au ‘Big Breakfast’ at Wests, New Lambton, NSW sponsored by http://www.enhanceplus.com.au/ and http://www.bni.com.au .
There are no ‘Cash for Comments in the above Sentence’ by the way. 🙂 I personally liked what I heard today. I guess thinking about your favourite business that you go to and you are half way there, to having a business to admire and copy would that be right, yeah?. I personally have a ‘mens’ barber’, rare these days I know, I like him because he does a good hair cut at a fair price and we talk about business improvement. I have learnt a lot from this guy. Thanks http://www.bisonit.com.au
PS: Your talk was outstanding and I also thought that you made a great W.O.M.B.A.T ( W ord O f Mouth Buy A nd T ell). I think I have been a WOMBAT in this comment????.