Be Ruthless About Your Sources of Revenue
In December it was reported that Apple will be pulling out of exhibiting at the famous Macworld Expo, held in January each year.
As you can guess from the name, the Macworld Expo always relied on Apple as the big crowd-puller. They exhibited every year and provided the keynote presentation, usually from Apple founder and CEO, Steve Jobs.
But not any more.
A press release from Apple said, “Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers.”
In other words, for Apple trade shows aren't worth the effort and the money. Times have changed.
Wow… strong words from Apple.
But smart words.
Words you can learn from.
Recently I was working with a client and we got to a point where they had clearly identified their target audience (their key source of new business). In their situation they needed to be promoting to, and working joint ventures with, people in the travel industry.
However – even though they had some idea of doing this four years ago – they had not yet focused on this area. Their marketing continued to be ‘this and that’ with some sponsorships, some advertising, some signage etc etc.
Nothing was clearly defined in a meaningful way for their key audience group – the travel industry.
To their credit they quickly came to understand the power of focus. They developed a suite of targeted marketing activities and sharpened their message.
Time, money, and marketing effort become very productive when you have clear outcomes in mind.
> Ditch those low potential markets.
> Be ruthless about where your best opportunities are.
Have the courage to focus on, and put effort into, those sources of revenue that hold the keys to your business success.
As you can guess from the name, the Macworld Expo always relied on Apple as the big crowd-puller. They exhibited every year and provided the keynote presentation, usually from Apple founder and CEO, Steve Jobs.
But not any more.
A press release from Apple said, “Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers.”
In other words, for Apple trade shows aren't worth the effort and the money. Times have changed.
Wow… strong words from Apple.
But smart words.
Words you can learn from.
Are you spending your time, and your marketing effort, in the right places?
Are you working on your top priority prospects?
Or are you spreading yourself too thin? Doing a bit of this… and a bit of that.
A real life example…Recently I was working with a client and we got to a point where they had clearly identified their target audience (their key source of new business). In their situation they needed to be promoting to, and working joint ventures with, people in the travel industry.
However – even though they had some idea of doing this four years ago – they had not yet focused on this area. Their marketing continued to be ‘this and that’ with some sponsorships, some advertising, some signage etc etc.
Nothing was clearly defined in a meaningful way for their key audience group – the travel industry.
To their credit they quickly came to understand the power of focus. They developed a suite of targeted marketing activities and sharpened their message.
Time, money, and marketing effort become very productive when you have clear outcomes in mind.
> Ditch those low potential markets.
> Be ruthless about where your best opportunities are.
Have the courage to focus on, and put effort into, those sources of revenue that hold the keys to your business success.
Labels: marketing, marketing planning
posted by Stuart Ayling @ 11:33 PM
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