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It’s
the 8th Idea that Counts
Patience, Analysis
keys to ideas that pan out in Small Business
Marketing
Small
business owners are constantly in search of new ideas to
help build and strengthen their existing businesses.
Whether you operate an on-line or off-line (traditional)
business, you have probably had the exhilarating feeling
of developing what you think is the next great marketing
idea or new product for your business, only to have the
feeling vanish when the idea turn sour.
As
a small business owner myself and a professional
marketer, I have learned one important lesson about idea
generation in business: it’s the 8th idea
that counts. My experience has shown me that the very
first idea that is generated to solve a particular
problem may not be the solution, but as long as you keep
that idea alive and allow it to grow and change, it
becomes an increasingly better idea. Eventually the idea
grows into a very profitable and manageable business
plan. In my case, it seems that it’s often the 8th
idea that is a real winner.
It
Happened to Me…
I’ll
draw on personal experience for an example. When I
launched my first online business almost 10 years ago,
I had the idea to take advantage of my experience as a
professional marketer in the staffing and employment
industry to bring valuable knowledge and information to
the general public. My first venture was a resume
writing website, which was neither a success nor a
failure. In short, it really did nothing.
As
I look back on that venture, I realize now that I simply
did not have enough information or internet savvy to put
together a reasonably decent website and market it
effectively. I pulled the business offline after only 3
months. What I did not do, however, was kill the
original idea.
I
went back to the drawing board to look at what went
wrong and determine if the idea was still viable. After
some thought, I decided to focus my efforts more on the
small business community, since I had so much experience
marketing for companies with tiny marketing budgets.
That was the birth of my current website and business
model. Since that time, my site has evolved, I’ve
changed marketing tactics, revised my product offering,
and so on. Each of these changes to the original idea
made the idea progressively better and more marketable.
In
my case, after the fundamental changes in the type of
product I would offer and numerous changes to my
marketing approach, I arrived at the “8th
idea”. After morphing 8 times, my original idea has
panned out very well in the form of my current business.
To
make sure that you keep your ideas alive until the reach
8th idea status, follow these two simple
guidelines:
Never
throw away an idea:
You
just never know what a few changes can do to a
previously unsuccessful idea. Don’t ever completely
discard an idea for your small business. Instead focus
on what could be done differently with it to enhance its
success next time around. Had I given up on my original
idea, I would not run the business that I do today.
Evaluate
your failures:
Good
ideas sometimes go bad. Remember “New Coke”? In a
recently published marketing book, the author (a driving
force behind the creation of New Coke back in 1985)
talks about how well they had planned for the launch of
the new cola and how sure they were that the product
would be a hit. It wasn’t. However, they quickly
reacted to the situation by morphing their original idea
(a new product) in a different direction (the
re-introduction of Coke under the label “Coca Cola
Classic”.). The relaunch was a massive marketing
success.
By
keeping your ideas alive, you’ll give them new life
every time you make a change to their original
composition. Sometimes, 8 ideas later, you’ll have a
real winner on your hands.
Article
contents © 2007 by marketingyoursmallbusiness.com
Will
Dylan is the Author of “Small Business Big
Marketing” a powerful e-book for small businesses
available through his website www.marketingyoursmallbusiness.com
. You can contact Will at askwill@marketingyoursmallbusiness.com
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