Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

Category: business advice

  • Does your business need a blog?

    It’s fashionable to tell business owners they need to embrace every aspect of the web. But do you really need a blog in your small business?

    There’s no doubt a blog is worthwhile for many. It can give another perspective to the business and enhances their story. It can help smaller businesses cut through the noise to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

    A good example is Mark Fletcher’s Newsagency Blog which has publicised Mark’s software company and his associated newsagencies while establishing him as a leader in the industry.

    Not all businesses have Mark’s energy or some simply don’t have the time. For others, their markets don’t really care about blogs.

    Also a blog is not an end in itself. A newsagent with an interesting blog is still going to fail if they don’t  deliver service to their customers and the same applies for PR agencies, marketers and management consultants.

    If blog is going to distract you from your core business, then maybe it isn’t a good idea.

    Every business is unique and what works for one enterprise is not necessarily right for another. A blog is a business tool, just like every other aspect of the Internet, and you need to choose the right tools for your business.

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  • IT for the future

    CNET’s Matt Asay looks at a Goldman Sachs report forcasting IT spending for 2009. To say the predictions are dire is an understatement. 

    Mark’s comments are interesting. He takes issue with Goldman’s view that open source and Software As A Service (SAAS) spending will fall as corporates focus on known vendors such as Microsoft and Symantec.

    I tend to agree with Goldman’s analysts that the big corporates will turn conservative for the next few years as they focus on their core operations. As long as their IT infrastructure is good enough, that’s where they will stay.

    The real action for open source and SAAS will be in the SME sector. Small businesses will be under more competitive and cash pressures as the global depression bites. The who survive the next three to five years will be the ones who do things smarter, quicker and cheaper than their opposition.

    This is where open source, and more important, SAAS come into their own as they give smaller enterprises flexibility and cost advantages.

    Some of today’s small businesses will the giants of the next economic boom and many of them will be giants because they embraced the new tools and technology available to them.

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  • Focus as a survival strategy

    compassThis article originally appeared in Smart Company on December 9, 2008

    Speculation is mounting about Apple releasing a cheap netbook. The idea is Apple needs to compete in the ultra cheap sector and their existing range is too expensive in the current market.

    While there’s no doubt Apple will have to respond to the difficulties in the market and give up some margins and profits, there’s danger in simply chasing other people’s price points.

    Apple’s success is built upon high margin products, not the stack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap models other manufacturers follow with varying degrees of success. Those high margins allow Apple to offer value added services like free help in their Apple Stores.

    While it’s important to meet consumer price points in the current market, pitching a product to meet someone else’s price point is madness. Apple’s market couldn’t be different to that of the Asus EeePC for example.

    That people are suggesting companies in Apple’s market and financial positions should be doing these things illustrates just how tough times are in the tech industries. This was flagged in yesterday’s SmartCompany New Years Resolutions article where Amanda Gome specifically clearly flagged IT as an area to cut.

    As we learnt in the tech wreck, IT spending is the first to be slashed, and from what I’m hearing there’s a bloodbath looming in the technical services industry.

    Others are hearing this too. The website GigaOm and Gartner Research both published tips on surviving the downturn last week.

    Gartner’s paper was firmly aimed at tech service businesses, but there‘s plenty of good ideas there for other businesses as well. Their key point is you have to lead the market as followers will struggle.

    The GigOm article starts from the same premise as Gartner – businesses need to differentiate themselves from the rest of the market – for GigaOm focus and simplicity are the keywords.

    Focus and simplicity are how Apple has achieved its position in its market. Right now is the worst possible time to lose this focus.

    All of us need to focus on the areas where we have advantages and how we can simplify things for our customers. We need to be talking to our clients now and understanding where their pain points are and how we can help.

    Once we’ve done that, we can start getting new ideas and products out there that will help our businesses through the tough period ahead.

    Image by Kriss Szkurlatowski.

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  • Closing early

    shop-closedI’ve been a customer of my local Mail Boxes Etc branch since shortly after it opened 13 years ago.

    While generally happy, one frustration I’ve had with them is they have a habit of closing early. Today they were closed 15 minutes earlier than their normal closing time.

    In the last two working days before Christmas, this is madness as small business owners rush to get things done and pick up courier deliveries.

    But what’s worse is they lost at least four customers. I saw two disappointed customers outside the firmly locked doors and while browsing in the newsagents next door, two customers came in wanting to use the photocopier as they couldn’t use the ones in MBE.

    In these tough times, it’s crazy to be turning away customers and upsetting existing loyal customers.

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  • Apple and the recession

    A couple of weeks ago I gave my opinions why Apple shouldn’t chase the Windows market down the cheap netbook path. Philip Elmer-DeWitt’s makes a similar comment on his Fortune blog quoting Turley Muller’s analysis of Apple’s prospects.

    The big challenge for all businesses in this downturn is to focus on core values and products. For a company in Apple’s position, to be distracted by a venture into low margin, cheap products would be a terrible waste of management time and resources.

    There’s no doubt Apple will be affected by this storm, they are going to lose sales and profits will suffer. The key to survival is to limit that damage and come through the other end with loyal customers and good products.

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