EvoBloggito

Business in 2010: Still Evolving After All These Years*

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jan 2, 2010; Category: Blogging, Business, Communication, Marketing, Zeitgeist; Tags: Blogging for Business, Business, Change, Economy, Entrepreneurs, Future; One Comment

New Year’s resolutions aren’t part of my tradition. They’re too easily forgotten or ignored, and they seem to focus primarily on end results rather than on underlying issues that create the need for improvement.

However, because the end-of-year holidays include more days off than I’m used to in a 2-week period, I usually do end up thinking about how things have gone over the previous year and where I’m going in the next. While I don’t exclusively think about business at such times, I’ll restrict this post to my reflections about Evo’s business (believe me, it’s better for both of us ).

My business has changed fairly dramatically in the past year, and blogging and blogs have played a big role. Evo has been in business since May, 2000—nearly 10 years. In terms of business activity, 2009 was not awful, but not great (until the last couple of months). My long-time business partner left the company in August and, while that has limited Evo’s ability to do some things, it’s also created profitable opportunities for collaboration with other companies.

I originally selected "Evolution" as part of the business name because I knew we’d have to evolve to be effective, as well as to stay in business. Back in 2000, I thought of websites primarily as online brochures. A lot of people still want static, set-it-and-forget-it websites that somehow bring them tons of business. It doesn’t work that way in 2010, and it really never did. I’m excited that websites can play an active role in marketing for a price that is well within the reach of most small businesses and organizations. My focus is now primarily on helping businesses and organizations incorporate blogging and blog-based websites into their marketing mix. In September, I developed and released a highly-customizable WordPress theme, Evo4 CMS, specifically for creating blog-based websites, and it’s greatly increased both my flexibility and efficiency in the implementation phase.

The challenge is that blogging, engaging online with customers, and keeping your website updated requires some time and effort. Definitely not a set-it-and-forget-it scenario. In 2010, I have to do a better job of communicating the benefits that kind of time and effort can bring about. Depending on how well I’m able to do that, next year should be a great year for Evo. And, I will have put some real tools in the hands of people to help them manage their business, which is a good feeling.

So, I’m focusing on two things in 2010:

1. collaboration with other developers, marketers, and consultants
2. helping businesses and organizations acquire the web-based tools and knowledge that allows them to manage their own marketing

I’m looking forward to it. Still evolving (and maybe still a little bit crazy) after all these years.

*apologies to Paul Simon

90% of Your Sales Will be from Word of Mouth or Digital Promotion by 2011

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Apr 28, 2009; Category: Business, Marketing, Zeitgeist; Tags: Business, Economy, Future, Marketing, Seth Godin; No Comments

That’s Seth Godin’s prediction, not mine. It’s based on behavioral trends for people who are ready to buy. It might be a bit exaggerated, but let’s suppose only 50% of your sales are from word of mouth or online promotion. What are you doing to prepare for that kind of sales mix?

Here in New Mexico, we understand being ready for conditions we know are coming. Our "monsoon" season is mid- to late-summer, maybe into early fall. Unless we get lucky and get some nice snow in December or January, that’s pretty much it for the year. In the spring, when it’s dry, it’s easy to forget that rain is coming, eventually. But we all have our rain barrels positioned under canales, and we count on the gallons of water we catch during the rainy season (usually more than our rain barrels can hold) to water gardens after the rains are gone. The people with bigger or more rain barrels capture more water (it’s not rocket science), which means they often have nicer, longer-yielding gardens.

But when it comes to taking advantage of the growing trends of local search, social media, and what some people refer to as the ReadWriteWeb, and using the tools to market and grow our businesses, New Mexico is woefully behind. Apparently, we don’t believe the changes that are already happening demand any action on our part, especially if we already have a website. Or maybe we think the trends are part of a fad that will reverse itself, rather than part of a fundamental change in the way people prefer to research and make purchasing decisions. More likely, we’re just not paying attention. Online marketing is not rocket science either, but you have to play to win.

The good news in Mr. Godin’s prediction is that there’s still time to establish your online marketing platform. The bad news is that there’s not a lot of time. It takes several months for most businesses to create a useful online platform. There are mistakes to make and learn from, markets to attract, and strategies to be discovered and honed before you’re ready to take full advantage. If you’re not ready, 50-90% of very little is "not very much."

Microsoft's 2019 Future Vision

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Apr 23, 2009; Category: Communication, Video, Zeitgeist; Tags: Future, Usability; No Comments

While I’m highly skeptical that Microsoft will play a key role in bringing them into existence (they haven’t really been about innovation for more than a decade), this 5-minute video shows some intriguing possibilities for making digital information part of our everyday lives. Some of it is science fiction at this point, but a lot of science fiction has become reality.

Information R/evolution

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Mar 4, 2009; Category: Business, Information Architecture, Video, Zeitgeist; Tags: Change, Future, Information Architecture; No Comments

Another excellent video from Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, this one describing changes in the way we "find, store, create, critique, and share information."

Business Survival is a Multiple-Choice Question

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Feb 23, 2009; Category: Business, Marketing, Zeitgeist; Tags: Business, Economy, Future, New Rules; No Comments

Times are tough, and they’ll get tougher, according to just about every expert opinion you can find. Optimistic experts say the recession will last through 2010; pessimists forecast hardship for the next decade. The wailing and gnashing of teeth among business owners and their employees (not to mention the experts) has reached almost biblical proportions. According to the common wisdom, if you’re not whining and shivering with fear, you look a little foolish, like you don’t know what’s up.

But what does whining, wailing, and teeth-gnashing accomplish that is helpful to your business? Anything? No, I thought not. Times are tough, and business owners need to accept that as what is (gosh, that sounds so…Zen). But tough times don’t render us powerless. Along with tough decisions about cutting back, there’s potential for finding new and better ways of doing things that create new opportunities.

As the downturn worsens (and all the experts say that it will), every business owner has to choose one of three options:

1. Fold up the tent and go home.
2. Hunker down and try to survive.
3. Recognize there is an opportunity in tough times to thrive, and decide that you have the courage and determination to take advantage of it.

Whichever choice you make, do it consciously, because it’s the unconscious choices that will do you in. If you choose "C," recognize that you will have to do things differently than in the past, that the changed economic landscape is no longer fertile ground for the "tried and true."

Choosing option C isn’t about "manifesting wealth" or "attracting good fortune." It’s about finding better ways to engage customers and working hard to gain their loyalty. It’s about having confidence in the value you have to offer. It’s about knowing that, whether the recession ends in 2010 or 2020, you’ll still be here, providing that value.