Is your business a piece of a larger puzzle? If you are one cog in an industry wheel, are you taking advantage of the momentum being sent your way by your neighboring cogs? Or are you skipping a beat … ?

Listen, there isn’t a company out there that can’t benefit from another, especially within the same niche or interconnected business. Those businesses can very easily cross-promote each other to the benefit of the consumer. When you look for ways to engage your customer in related offerings, you actually provide a service. They thought they would have to go elsewhere for that information, but there it was – and you provided it.

For example, an organic grocery store does well to have brochures and catalogs for a local retailer in organic clothing lines at point of sale locations. The consumer who “thinks organic” will love to have this information handy to them. In the same way, an organic fashion retailer who displays the weekly fliers from the neighborhood organic grocery has just become a resource to the consumer as well. Being that resource helps you stay valuable to your client.

Another example would be a model airplane builder and a niche paint provider for that plane. Gerald Voigt’s credibility in the area of niche paint for model airplanes has catapulted him in his career, primarily because of the value that information provides his audience in the hobby industry. He’s built his business on the relationships he’s cultivated within the hobby world through the product offerings those businesses provide.

If you’re not currently embracing a business relationship with “benefits”, you should be. I almost hate to say it because it is so over-used in the marketing industry, but becoming a valuable resource to your clients really will prove to benefit your business, too.

What like business relationships have you begun to develop? Tell us about them! If you’re having trouble figuring out what businesses might be a good fit, leave your questions in the comments section, or send us an email – we’ll be happy to share some ideas with you.

All your marketing efforts are working and business is starting to take off. Great! Then suddenly you find yourself unable to deliver what you promised. One of your suppliers has slipped and fallen on hard economic times and is no longer in business or cannot sustain the required flow of resources.

Keep an eye on the world behind you, especially those resources that you use to produce products for your customers. Resources aren’t just raw materials, but also your copywriter, graphic designer, printing company, the distributor who supplies your raw materials, or even the company that transports your products to your customer. When the person or company you’re relying on to get the job done suddenly disappears, make no mistake about it, it’s going to impact your business.

Nick Zubko of Industry Week wrote a great piece, 10 Warning Signs of a Supplier in Peril. This isn’t a fluffy concept to be vaguely aware of, but one impacting businesses around the globe. A business within my industry (too close to home) just went under when they were unable to source a reliable supplier due to changes in transportation requirements. Suddenly they were unable to deliver product to their customers.

If you’re in a highly specialized field with few suppliers, a suddenly lost resource will be even more troublesome. If you lose your supply resources, you’re dead in the water. Period.

As my driving and flight instructors said, “keep your head and eyes moving.” Know what’s going on around you. Make sure you’re communicating with your suppliers to keep abreast of their economic situation. Keep that 360 degree view in mind so that you can identify and react to a situation quickly … before it’s too late.

Photo Credit: Gaetan Lee on flickr

As a marketing professional, I understand the need to touch potential and existing customers as often as possible. However, there is a tremendous amount of useless, wasted marketing collateral caused by not investing in effective database management.

Waste Not, Unless You Love Cows
Duplicate addresses in the database mean that duplicate catalogs or other marketing collateral get mailed to each addressee. A good example: Sitting on top of my desk right now is no less than six copies of the very same supply catalog! These catalogs are huge, heavy and expensive, not only to produce, but also to mail. Of course, I only need one…the rest get recycled. A local farmer shreds them for use as bedding material in his dairy operation. The farmer is happy because his cows are happy…a happy cow produces more. But there’s zero return on investment for the supplier – and this waste is expensive!

Taking the time to properly set up an accurate database might require more investment up front, but by eliminating waste, it’s less expensive in the long run. As business opportunities tighten, internal housekeeping to alleviate waste must be forefront in daily operations. Besides, it’s a simple and profitable step toward becoming a “green business.”