I read the other day that 80% of startups fail. And then I learned that 50% of small businesses fail within five years.
Isn’t that scary? So many people depend on those businesses.
And I thought, is it because they offer bad products or services?
But then I remembered plenty of businesses that sold great products or offered terrific services, but they still didn’t last.
My own favorite was Benny’s, a local department store with a dozen locations across New England. I bought my first bike and my first baseball mitt there.
Their selection was excellent. Prices were excellent.
Unfortunately, they were unwilling to change and were losing profitability.
And I realized, here was yet another small business that saw growth only in terms of getting new customers in the door.
The best businesses – those that grow and thrive even in bad economies – know that growth is not just about getting new customers in the door.
But even huge, iconic companies make the same mistake. Just look at Sears and Toys R Us. Both sold tons of great products. Both spent tens of millions on advertising every year.
You see, that’s what Madison Ave wants us to believe: if you want to grow, you have to spend more on advertising. But millions in advertising couldn’t save iconic brands like Sears and Toys R Us, so how can it save smaller businesses like yours?
But the best businesses – both big and small – focus on a whole lot more than just new customers in the door, such as their costs, profit margins, changes in the market, and the lifetime value of all their customers.
So I think it is time to Democratize Marketing Now!
All the startups and small businesses that fail don’t fail because they offer bad products or services.
They often fail because they don’t know what they don’t know about growing the business!
But what would happen if they knew exactly what to do, how to do it, and the resources to make it happen? Wouldn’t they have an equal opportunity at success?
If we know better, then we do better. Isn’t that true?
So I think it is time to Democratize Marketing Now and to share what the best companies in the world do to grow their revenue, their profit, and their income.
Because when small business grows and thrives, the people in our communities benefit with secure jobs, higher incomes, and happier lives.
And that is what we are all working towards.
