Keep It Lean
Many of readers of this column do not have huge cash reserves or large
amounts of venture capital to establish their on line business. The
dotcom bubble has burst and now that the capital markets have dried
up, many dotcoms, especially in the business to consumer e-commerce
space are going to simply run out of money before they are able to
attain profitability. If you are building a real e-commerce site you
must be focused on economic viability. Low capital resources force
real business to look at profitability rather then high capital cost.
"Too much capital can cause the operators of a company to forget that profitability, for themselves, their employees, and their shareholders, is their central mission. When the business operators are young and inexperienced, a large amount of capital seems infinite, and they do stupid things with it," comments John Audett of Multimedia Marketing Group. When funds are limited think in terms of ROI (return on investment) for every single expense. "Money can often be an inferior substitute for passion, energy and commitment. It can make you lazy and complacent. Keep it lean -- even if you have the capital. Your company will be better for it."
Build community!
Building community has become a cliché on the Internet. People
do business with people they know, like and trust. Communicating
builds community (that means regular and quick responses to e-mail
inquiries). In a business context; if you can build a community that
is comprised of people who are potential buyers of your product or
service, it will be a potent part of your marketing. A very effective
and powerful tool is a discussion list, which; in the short term does
not appear to be viable, a waste of your time, and of little
importance. However, over the long range, it becomes a powerful
marketing tool to build customer loyalty (and much repeat business)
and a way to continuously generate new leads.
The best opportunities are in niches, particularly niches that you are passionately interested in. Once you identify your niche, find a way to serve it. Best of all, a way to serve it and to build community at the same time.
Copyright 2001 D.Sharp; First Canadian Serial Rights.