But in the last 10 years all of that has changed. Yellow Pages is dying, there’s another local newspaper closing every week in this country (and those that are left are read by the wrong demographic for most businesses) and word-of-mouth in the 21st Century is, of course, social media. The arrival of things like the internet, Google Ad Words, Facebook ads, Banner retargeting, use of SMS text, voice broadcasts, email marketing – these are the “Talkies” of our time.
It struck me that this is such a wonderful simile for so many businesses in the UK today. There are lots of business owners who are hugely skilled and talented at what they do (just like Valentin was) but their stubborn refusal to move with the times – especially with regard to their marketing – means that their success is hugely compromised and their lifestyles diminished as a result. Look at it this way, for 70 years after the war, if you were a local business in the UK, all you had to worry about in order to achieve success was three things: you took the largest ad you could afford in Yellow Pages, you relied a lot on word-of-mouth and if you were really ambitious, or a bit flashy, you took out an ad in the local paper. That was all you needed to do.
In short, pretty much everything about being in business is changing – just like in Hollywood in the late 20s, when everything about making movies changed as well. Those who adapted and changed with the times were the ones that flourished, those that didn’t saw their careers die. And so it will be the case for our generation in business. The good news is, even if you haven’t done much with any of this “new fangled stuff” yet – it’s not too late to start. The ending of The Artist is genuinely uplifting and so it could be for you too … and here at thebestof we’re here to help you in any way we can. We’re as progressive as progressive can be, we’re plugged in to what’s working and we’re only a phone call away.
Have a great month...
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Bestof-Bolton-Nov.indd 2
Monthly Update Novemebr 2012
18/10/2012 15:01