The Theodore Levitt analogy of the railroad industry described in his 1960s treatise Marketing Myopia is one that resonates with me.
The railroad business lost customers because they defined themselves as in the railroad business, not the transportation business. This narrow definition of their business and what it is they did meant that they could adapt. They didn’t reinvest in new areas and missed out on key insights.
In my own professional development I instinctively recognised this before even hearing of Theodore’s work – but his work expanded my own thoughts.
My career started with me selling telecommunications products in 2004. It would have been relatively easy for me to define myself as someone in the telecommunications industry. Commissions were good, everyone was getting phones and Capped plan mobiles didn’t exist.
But I recognised early that it was a highly competitive industry and that things would change. From early days I’ve described myself as in the “connection” industry. I connect people. As technology has evolved and the way technology use has evolved, this broad definition of what I do has allowed me to adapt and evolve – providing businesses and entrepreneurs with tailored solutions for their needs.
Without a broad (whilst still clear) definition of what I do we may not be in business. Telecommunications services are still a core factor of our business. But as services become a commodity I need to reassess what we offer to survive and grow.
Being open to new avenues means the following services have been introduced and are being expanded upon:
Digital Marketing & Social Media Strategy – I have a Masters Degree in PR. My area of interest and focus was digital strategy. With increased smartphone and tablet penetration comes increased awareness of social media platforms and their potential. Whilst awareness has increased, effective implementation still escapes many. We have a team capable of filling this void and our customers benefit. Here we are helping businesses connect with their clients.
Digital Literacy & Technology Training – The Samsung Galaxy S6 I carry in my pocket today is infinitely more powerful than the first computer we had at my parents house. I can also access the internet significantly faster from my mobile phone than I could with our old dial up internet connection. New handsets bring new uses and new opportunities. In order to ensure our clients are equipped to take advantage of the productivity and connectivity benefits of new technologies we offer a variety of tailored training courses as well as one on one coaching.
Tablets for Business – An extension of our digital literacy training are our tablets for business workshops and training. Whether iPads or Android tablets, these tools can change the way business is done.
Cloud Services & Computer storage – As technology develops and internet speeds increase we are seeing a convergence between telecommunications and IT. Cloud services are becoming more popular and we’ve developed a number of partnerships and solutions that can help entrepreneurs and businesses – connect with each other
Whilst not purely focussed on our core B2B market, we’ve added a number of other services that are more social enterprises – designed to give back to the community.
Social Media for Senior Citizens – The “mature” audience is growing on Facebook. Older generations are reaching out to Facebook as a way to stay in touch with friends and family. We run workshops with older citizens to allow the to harness the power of Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family.
Connecting Job Seekers & the homeless – This is a new project that I am really excite about . Whilst not launched yet, this is a really exciting time for me.
The purpose of writing this post was two fold:
- To explain a bit more about what we do.
- To encourage you, dear reader, to think a little more about what industry you are in. Are you defining your business too narrowly?