TV and radio is dead. The planet's most prevalent operating system's voice-search feature is named after a character in a popular first-person shooter (FPS) video game. And Domino's Pizza CEO says he runs "a tech company, which happens to make pizza..." Meanwhile 2,300+ mom-and-pop pie shops go out of business each year.
What does it mean?
It means that if you're a small business owner, and still think you are in the business of making pizza, pastries, flower arrangements, burgers, knitting hats, or whatever... the executives who are thinking bigger, outside the box, beyond boxes altogether, will inevitably out-maneuver the businesses who's executives are constantly neck-deep in ops.
Time has proven that the "best" product isn't necessarily the one that wins. Or perhaps time has simply defined more clearly what the "best" means today. While many tout the evils of "low-cost," big-box stores and chains – and let's agree that there are, indeed, numerous evils associated with mass production at the expense of our eco system and human welfare – let's also agree that this is a separate topic in and of itself – probably better labeled "The World's Best & Most Responsible." Back to the point: time has proven the "best" products aren't the fastest or biggest. The best products are the ones most of us can afford, that come with a reasonable guarantee of consistency. Ford, Coca-Cola, and McDonalds pioneered the way.
What does it mean?
It means that if you're a small business owner, and still think you are in the business of making pizza, pastries, flower arrangements, burgers, knitting hats, or whatever... the executives who are thinking bigger, outside the box, beyond boxes altogether, will inevitably out-maneuver the businesses who's executives are constantly neck-deep in ops.
Time has proven that the "best" product isn't necessarily the one that wins. Or perhaps time has simply defined more clearly what the "best" means today. While many tout the evils of "low-cost," big-box stores and chains – and let's agree that there are, indeed, numerous evils associated with mass production at the expense of our eco system and human welfare – let's also agree that this is a separate topic in and of itself – probably better labeled "The World's Best & Most Responsible." Back to the point: time has proven the "best" products aren't the fastest or biggest. The best products are the ones most of us can afford, that come with a reasonable guarantee of consistency. Ford, Coca-Cola, and McDonalds pioneered the way.
Henry Ford didn't invent the automobile in 1908. Beginning with the Quadricycle, 12 years before the Model T, Ford sought to reinvent Americans' perception of a recurring idea: "I need to go to __________." While competitors focused on features (the 2nd gen electric car was already being marketed by Edison in the early 1900s!), Ford focused on producing transportation within economic reach of the average American. Assembly line manufacturing, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The two McDonalds brothers didn't invent the hamburger. In fact, Dick and Maurice McDonald started out cooking BBQ in 1940, and pivoted to burgers, fries and soft drinks later. When Ray Kroc joined the company in 1955, rather than position the company as the answer to the question, "where's the best burger joint," Ray chose to grow by answering a more simple, and much more frequently-recurring idea in the minds of Americans: "I'm hungry."
Fast forward 60 years...
Fast forward 60 years...
Despite their legitimate adherence to pizza tradition authenticity, independent and small chain pie shops continue to lose market share to Dominos and the other 3 major players in the $40 billion category. Dominos CEO, Patrick Doyle, did not create a new niche, nor positioned Dominos as the answer to "the best pizza." Instead he spent the last 19 years redefining customer expectations when they have the recurring thought: "pizza." What used to mean $25, 1 pie, and an hour-long commitment, (possibly 2 hours if you decided to venture out), has become 3 touchscreen-clicks on a phone and a few minutes wait. For over a decade, Mr. Doyle has been strategically investing into IT infrastructure, culminating in the creation of an IT-driven, highly-perishable product delivery system – which increased product consistency, sped up payment processing, and nearly eliminated order entry errors.
When you hear the Baby Boomers say "Siri," or "Okay, Google," into their smartphone to get directions to the opera or call their best friend, it means that in order to remain competitive, small business owners must consider how customers access information and find answers to questions today. It's the only way your flower shop ad is going to appear on the opera ticket order confirmation page. It's the only way your gourmet restaurant ad is going to show its 10% OFF coupon 10 times before 12pm the same day the couple planned to go out. And its the only way your jewelry store is going to make a promotional offer 20 times the week after the ticket purchase, showcasing the exact pair of earrings the husband was considering buying on Amazon, guaranteeing delivery in time before the performance.
Less art. Less risk. More science. Greater returns.
While online advertising once had had an air of gambling associated with it, modern day analytics have dispelled the ambiguity, allowed micro and SMB-sized businesses to leverage the full power of pay-per-click (PPC) targeted online advertising, learn from each campaign, and drive website traffic with measurable and controlled risk. It doesn't cost much to assess the digital competitive landscape (a few thousand bucks is enough to perform a deep-dive). And while there are plenty of data-heads who can parse data, a small cross section of analytical-types can also think strategically. Provided your team can understand what the data means, with a little imagination and perspective, the data can transform into actionable information. While your pizza shop may find itself priced out of paying for 50 clicks per day for local (geo-targeted) Google ads based on the term "pizza," your competitors may have overlooked a golden opportunity to drive traffic for undervalued phrases such as "new york style pizza," and "sicilian style pizza," which happen to be your shop's specialties... and are getting 5,000 searches monthly in your target market: actionable information.
Page rank eluded risk-conscious businesses even more so than online advertising. The answer to "how do I get my website to the 1st spot on page 1?" was the 8th wonder of the modern world... seemingly. Endless debate ensued among search engine optimization (SEO) enthusiasts, Googlers, and charlatans; and businesses large and small fell for unfounded sales pitches, which resulted in little to no value-added, other than perpetuating the mystery. Today, SEO has been unraveled. Google no longer has a team in place updating the ranking algorithm. As of 2015, Google's patented "PageRank" algorithm has been replaced with a new algorithm called "RankBrain," founded on an artificial intelligence (Ai) subset known as machine learning (ML). Page rank and SEO are no longer art forms. Google publishes quarterly updates to its website SEO best-practices, and offers SEO certifications to ensure user and webmaster understanding aligns with Google.
Page Rank = Valuable Content + Website Optimization + Qualified Back Links + Social Engagement.
When war raged over which search engine would dominate the world's home pages, med/lar and Fortune companies held a distinct advantage over micro/SMB in page rank. Because larger corps budgeted for marketing, they could afford to pay the cost of the steep learning curve associated with trial and error in this new space. 20 years later, when we ask prospective micro/SMB executives what their budget is to achieve their online marketing goals, oftentimes, it does not formally exist because of antiquated sentiments from the late 1990s.
Leveling the online marketing playing field for Micro/SMB.
Today there are 2 billion PCs and 2 billion mobile devices connected to the internet around the globe at any given moment. Through Google alone, devices send and receive 1.2 trillion search requests annually. That's 40 billion opportunities to advertise or position your company and its products to customers each day. It's an opportunity to advertise effectively – to target audiences by demographic, by geography, by interest, by search history, and to determine with near-certainty the exact value of each dollar invested as it relates to marketing objectives. The time to allocate an online marketing budget is now. If you're a micro or SMB and you're busy designing and passing out flyers, closing deals on the phone after pre-sales, or waist-deep in customer support, short-term, that's money in your pocket. Mid to long-term, not realizing and leveraging IT for conversion is merely a stay of execution.