Getting on top of what matters…
I posted over on my blog at Curious Office early this morning about some thoughts I had regarding business plans I’ve looked at lately. Usually these types of posts relate more to my own thinking about what I’m doing and how I can improve our prospects with ImageKind. I think in any start-up you have this initial ‘grace period’ where you get to build and deploy your concept without necessarily being expected to know exactly how and what the market is going to say about your service. Most investors know you don’t have a crystal ball or the ones that do don’t expect it to work 100% of the time. But, as in any venture, there is finally a time to get on top of what’s really going to provide the results you’ll be satisfied with. Even after just a few months since launch I think at ImageKind we’re entering that critical phase.
This is really just another way of saying “what things do we need to do to really move the needle?”
As I think about the answers to questions everyone in our organization should internalize in a super crisp way I suppose I also realize that this Q&A exercise is pretty much standard fare for any thriving business.
Do we know what our unique place in the marketing is?
Do we know what things are driving new users to us?
Do we know what things we are doing that are keeping our traffic up? Or is it just happening on its own?
Do we know what marketing levers have impacts and which ones do not?
Do we know which products to prioritize? What should be merchandised?
Do we know where to find new customers?
Do we have a customer retention strategy that will keep our current customers in tact?
Do we understand how people find us? Where do we get our visitors? Why?
Do we know how to get in front of active shoppers in our sector?
Do we know how to take customers from our competitors?
Do we have a partnership strategy that will result in a better bottom line?
It’s ok not to have clarity on everything from the outset. But it’s important (for us) to be relentless in our search for the right answers to each of these questions. In my experience it is VERY easy to put answers in place for every one of these considerations but its another thing to have a high degree of internal confidence that your answers are right on target. I’m not interested in a marketing plan. I’m interested in the right answers to the tough questions.
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