Inbound marketing is the opposite of outbound marketing. (Go figure!?) That means focusing on providing valuable content to attract new customers, instead of buying attention with traditional advertising.

As we’ve been discussing, your prospective clients are more educated than ever and are hungry for useful information. Like you, they are also inundated with advertising all day. It’s everywhere to the point it all becomes a blur…

The best way to get and keep the spotlight is to truly provide value. Yep, it’s really that simple.

There are many ways you can share your business’ value:

In last week’s post, I shared my back-story that has led me to where I am today and challenged you to start pondering yours.

The advent of social media has changed the world of marketing forever. Marketing strategies from a decade ago will no longer suffice on their own.

These days, customers are more educated than ever and will do their research.

It goes without saying that all businesses need a stellar web site, as that will be the first stop for prospects, but that isn’t enough… Customers and clients now want to go beyond to make a personal connection before purchasing.

The world of social media may seem daunting with a new tool or program coming out every other week, but it doesn’t need to be. Each system has its own benefits and limitations, which is helpful in determining what will work best for you.

There is a wealth of free information available online if you need to find out more about which social media tool is best for your business.

For today’s post, I’ll be focusing on the message over the method…

You started your business for a reason – with a dream and a goal. It’s much more important to understand your business’ benefits and value than being an expert in every social media tool.

People buy from trusted sources. To instill trust in your audience begins with providing value to prove your business does all that you claim.

Social media provides you with a number of ways to speak to your tribe. It’s up to you to decide what method is best for you. The key is that you put a face on your business and help your prospective clients to understand why you do what you do.

It’s a form of education that shares your company’s mission and vision to anyone in the world.

To use any form of social media effectively, you need to understand your target market and your business’ purpose. A good place to start is outlining ‘your story’ and what led you to create your business. Then take a look at your calendar for any upcoming promotions or holidays. From there, you can easily create a social media calendar and schedule your posts in advance. You will also have to remain active. Social media is all about being social and your fans and followers want to feel engaged.

Share your successes, but also share the lessons you’ve learned along the way. Your prospective clients will appreciate it.

The bottom line is social media is all about creating conversations. It’s an organic and honest way to nurture your leads.

So, what systems are the most optimal for your company? Do your research to find out where your target market is hanging out online.

If you’re unsure where to start, we can help!

The key take away from this week’s post is to understand your story and your ideal clients so you can speak to them effectively.

Next week we’ll dive into the blogosphere and content creation world to help you develop valuable materials to share with your prospective clients.

I leave you with this scene from Jerry Maguire to inspire you to inspire your tribe. Believe in yourself and your business vision and the right people will too. ‘Who’s coming with me?’

Tamara Smith

Director of Marketing Mojo

It’s my pleasure and honor as DemGen’s Director of Marketing Mojo to be nominated as the Expert of the Month for October.

Over the years as a marketing professional, I’ve been blessed to have had a very diverse experience in the corporate marketing world through the many roles I’ve played with companies from national trade associations, to internationally renowned brands, to working with budding entrepreneurs and small businesses.

But, my first love wasn’t marketing. For as long as I could remember, I’ve been a storyteller and my writing has always seemed to resonate with people. I naively figured I’d easily have my first Oscar by 25…

After finishing school, I did the responsible thing and got a ‘real job’. It paid the bills, but did nothing to quench my heart’s desire and left me with minimal time to pursue my dream.

I ended up starting a production company to build up some credibility for myself. It was quite successful, especially given I was still working in corporate marketing full time.

Like you, I was and still am, an entrepreneur at heart.

But, I soon found myself so busy I had no free time to be creative, pursue my own projects or have a life. I became so overwhelmed; I decided to go on ‘hiatus’ from the production industry to focus entirely on marketing…

Cut to a decade later: Things have changed. With all of the developments in technology, storytelling has become a key component of the marketing mix. Marketing is now more about being educational, creating relationships and nurturing prospects, than just getting your message out.

And, of course, we can’t forget DemGen in this story! Working with DemGen’s team of experts to support our amazing clients has let me focus on what I do best and not worry about the rest, which has allowed my creativity to flourish. Not to mention, the satisfaction I feel by playing a part in our customer’s successes.

That’s my story. What’s yours? What goals, dreams and desires led you to create your business? Why did you feel the insatiable drive to create your business? What inspires you to keep going when things get tough? Food for thought…

Over the next month, my goal is to help you find your marketing voice and feel empowered to share your story. The tools and technology of the day make it easy to share your message with the world. So, what are you going to say?

For now, I leave you with this scene from The Pursuit of Happyness to remind you to keep pursuing your dreams. With hard work, the right strategies and team, you will make them happen!

Tamara Smith
Director of Marketing Mojo

One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others. ~ Lewis Carroll

When first nominated as DemGen’s Expert of the Month, I could only think, what on earth will I write about?

Seeing as I’m responsible for the majority of the blog posts for DemGen, that shouldn’t have been a problem but I had a difficult time thinking of myself as an expert on anything in particular. I may have talents in certain areas and may also be quite good at several things, but an expert?

My final decision to write about customer service was based on a longstanding and firm belief that customer service is not just what we say to people on the telephone or how we say it. It isn’t the sales pitch we give to customers in retail stores or our contact with others online, whether through websites, blogs or social media.

Sometimes customer service can be a conversation between two or more people that involves the give and take of information, including how they feel about a certain service or product. It can also be something we give or do for others but not in the way that we usually think of as customer service. I’ll get into that later in the month.

Long before I heard the expression customer service, I had been well versed in the use of manners. Growing up when I did, manners were important and if you were rude, impolite or didn’t have “good manners”, you were told about it. By everyone.

When you look at the title of this blog post, you may get the wrong idea. This month’s posts are not exactly what you may expect. They aren’t about the evolution of manners or how customer service came to be. They are more to do with how we view customer service at different ages, from quite young and on through the years, as we mature. They are also about what customer service really is and what it can be. It can be obvious, it can be behind the scenes or it can be masquerading as something else entirely.

What some business owners don’t know is that it doesn’t matter what type of business you are in, one way or another you will still be providing a product or service for someone else. Anyone who deals with the public in any way at all, even in the background, is providing some type of service for customers or clients and this is where many make their first error.

A customer’s perception of what they receive from you will differ from your perception of what you are selling/giving/offering or providing to or for them in return. What they may expect from you can be totally different than the service, product or experience you are providing.

Your customer wants several things:

They want to feel good.

They want to feel that they have received excellent value.

They also want to feel special.

Notice that all three revolve around your customer’s feeling. Also, these three things usually have different meanings for everyone, which is why automating customer service doesn’t work.

We all dislike being treated in the same way. Each of us is unique and we all react appreciatively when that’s recognized.  Even when we’re very young, we can tell when someone isn’t paying attention to us or is treating us as if we aren’t important.

In my next several posts I’ll give you some examples of how customer service affects us at different stages of our lives and, in turn, our reactions. I’ll also tell you a few short stories of experiences I have had in the past, while both on the receiving and the giving end of different types of customer service.

Until next week,

Chris Draper

image courtesy of Humboldt University of Berlin

© 2012 DemGen All Rights Reserved.

“Like good health, a positive cash flow is something you’re most aware of when you haven’t got it.”

– Robert Heller

Hey Future Vision Mappers! We’ve reached the final post in the Future Vision Map series. My hope is that all of you have found the previous five posts (click here if you’ve missed any of them) useful and informative.

Money talks, but cash yells at the top of its voice

Up until now, we’ve talked about defining your future vision, gathering data about your customer’s needs and desires; introspecting about your strengths and weaknesses; developing strategy and tactics. The next step is to put together a cash budget and figure out whether your new plans will bring you net positive cash flow or not. If there’s no positive cash flow, change your plans!

Notice I said cash flow and not profit. You make a profit when you deduct your costs and expenses from your sales. You can make a profit even if your customers don’t pay you. It’s an accounting term. Your business can thus survive even if you make a loss, provided you’ve got enough cash to get by. Therefore, let cash drive your business decisions, not profit. Especially if you’re just starting out in business.

Cash flow is real. Cash inflow comprises the real dollars that come in to your bank account. Cash outflow comprises the money that your business spends. No cash, no business. If you’d like a simple cash flow model I use (built on Google Spreadsheets, email me at Faheem@demgen.com and I’ll send it over).

With a cash-flow mindset, you’re ready to grow your business.

How to break down your big ideas into actionable tasks

Now that you’re ready to start taking action, you need a simple action-oriented framework to help you and your team knock off your tasks one by one. Here’s what we do at DemGen:

Start with listing your Strategic Imperatives. Write 2-3 broad undertakings that you will need to accomplish in order to manifest your future business vision. Examples of Strategic Imperatives could be “Accelerate Lead Generation Drive”, or “Overhaul Organizational Structure”, or “Systemize Overseas Operations”, etc.

Under each Strategic Imperative, add 3-4 Strategic Initiatives that break down the Imperatives further. For example, for the imperative “Accelerate Lead Generation Drive”, strategic initiatives could be:

• Review and analyze results of past lead generation campaigns
• Deploy market research survey
• Develop new marketing plan
• Review team requirements and hire required experts and personnel

If Strategic Imperatives are a 10,000-foot view of your implementation plan, then Strategic Initiatives are a 5000-foot view.

Action Plans, on the other hand, are at the ground level. Action Plans comprise various tasks that are to be assigned to individual members of your team. Who’s going to do what, by when. Each Strategic Initiative should have as many tasks as necessary to implement the initiative. Examples of an Action Plan under ‘Review and analyze results of past lead generation campaigns’ include:

Strategic Imperative: Accelerate Lead Generation Drive

Strategic Initiative: Review and analyze results of past lead generation campaigns

Action Plan:

So – off you go! You now have a proven framework to guide you in defining your vision, developing strategy and tactics, and implementing your plans. It’s now time to build that dream business.

It has certainly been a pleasure being DemGen’s Expert of the Month. I look forward to comments, emails with feedback and questions. I wish you all the best of luck!

Faheem Moosa is DemGen’s lead business strategist and developer of the Future Vision Map. He can be reached at Faheem@demgen.com

“Anytime you find someone more successful than you are, especially when you’re both engaged in the same business – you know they’re doing something that you aren’t.”

– Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X

We’ve reached Part 5 of the Future Vision Map series. If you’ve missed the previous posts, you can get them here.

Have you heard of the saying, “A handful of action is worth a ton of theory”? Let me put a spin on this statement by saying a handful of tactics are worth a ton of strategy. Why? Because tactics are calculated moves that help you win. Strategy is a powerful yet theoretical concept, while tactics involve action.

So when I say a handful of tactics are worth a ton of strategy, do I mean that it’s worth shooting in the dark without having a plan of action?

Yes.

I know it’s not ideal, but you’re not going to get anywhere without making any moves, are you? Besides, doing something – however small – is bound to give you insights that will eventually shape your strategy.

Of course, ideally, it’s best to nail down your strategy before making any moves at all. But more often than not, you just need to build a basic version of your product or service, get out there, obtain customer feedback, apply those results to your offering, and get out there again to get more feedback and hopefully sell more.

Prologue To Tactics

You’ve nailed your strategic focus, but before we deep dive into tactical moves that will help you deliver the best value to the market, there’s one more thing left to conceptualize: your unique position in the marketplace.

What comes to your mind when you think Starbucks? Tim Hortons? What about Walmart? Loblaws?

To me, Starbucks = premium (or overpriced!) personalized café experience, while Tim Hortons = quintessential Canadian neighbourhood coffee place. Walmart = good prices, average experience, while Loblaws = premium big box retail store with better than average customer service.

You need to think about how you want customers to view your product or service relative to the competition. That’s positioning. What emotional and functional benefits does your product/service or business offer to the customer, and how does that make you unique and valuable in the eyes of your customer?

[Geeky side note: Positioning is a term coined by Al Ries and Jack Trout; Rosser Reeves spoke of the same concept, calling it the Unique Selling Proposition; Seth Godin calls it the Purple Cow; and the Heath Brothers talk about it in their book Made to Stick. If you’re familiar with all or some of these terms/concepts, they are all the same, but…ahem…positioned differently. (Thanks to Copyblogger’s Brian Clark for pointing this out in one of his interviews)]

Tactical Maneuvers On Bizness Street

Here are four critical issues to think about to achieve tactical brilliance that will eventually help you manifest your future business vision:

Presenting the experience of your product or service (or business as a whole) to your customer

At every point of contact with the customer, what experience do you want the customer to come away with? From the time the customer becomes aware of your product, to interaction with your personnel, to purchase, to use of the product – how do you want your customers to feel about your business? What specifically can you do at these various stages that can enhance the customer’s experience?

Pricing your product or service

All I will say here is that it’s best to keep testing various pricing techniques and figure out which works best. I’m against competing on price, so as a small business I advocate enhancing your perceived value. Check out this fantastic article on ConversionXL’s blog for an intelligent treatise on pricing.

Reaching your customer

Depending on your strategy and positioning, you will want to explore how and where to sell your products or services. Direct or via distributors and/or affiliates. Brick and mortar, web, and/or mobile. As a small business, focus on two or three channels, and no more. Keep testing other channels in small ways to see which ones stick.

Creating mad, raving fans of your business who will spread the word

You can do a whole bunch of tactical marketing like Google AdWords, print ads, Facebook marketing, article writing, SEO, trade show marketing, etc. etc. in order to raise awareness about your product or service and create mad, raving fans. Yes, they work to some extent. But here’s the thing. Just make sure your product or service fills a deep customer need or desire, and then provide such fantastic customer service that not only surprises and delights your customers, but also blows their minds. Then notice that your customers not only beg for more, but also evangelize your business like there’s no tomorrow.

Join me again next week for the last post in the series, where we’ll talk money and the power of tiny actions. Until then, post a comment and say hi!

Faheem Moosa is DemGen’s lead business strategist and developer of the Future Vision Map. He can be reached at faheem@demgen.com

© 2012 DemGen All Rights Reserved.

If you come to a fork in the road, take it – Yogi Berra

Welcome to part 4 of the Future Vision Map series, and our topic is…(see title!). Click here if you missed the first three posts in the series.

Strategy. Strategic. Strategize. Big words. People use them a lot in business.

Which strategy should we use?

Let’s be strategic about this market, ok?

Let’s get together to strategize how we can increase market share by 314.76%.

To be honest, the word strategy (or its derivatives) has lost its meaning in the business world. Too many gurus, too many definitions. A few of them I subscribe to, most I don’t.

Let’s cut to the chase. To me, small business strategy can be summed up in one word: focus.

It’s that simple. Strategy means focus. Focus on what your business is, and also what it isn’t.

There are a couple ‘focus’ decisions you likely need to make as a small business.

Focus #1: Better or Cheaper?

A business can only be one of two things: better or cheaper. Premium or no-bells & whistles. If you decide to be better and cheaper than the competition and manage to be profitable, then let me assure you someone with more resources and/or economies of scale will likely come along and undercut you further. So as a young, growing business, please don’t compete on price. It’s not worth it. Instead, focus on being better.

How do I define better?

• A sharp understanding of your customers’ needs and desires, so you can offer extraordinary solutions/products/services like nobody else
• Excellent customer service and a remarkable customer experience
• Cultivating excellent people to deliver your business’ promise to customers

In the business world, mediocrity is the norm. That’s a huge opportunity for your business. Focus on better, and you’ll be one of the best businesses around. People will flock to you. The goodwill you create among your customers will make for a solid competitive advantage.

Focus #2: Who is your customer?

I don’t like violence, but I’ll give you a war analogy. You’re a General tasked with conquering a relatively powerful country. You have a small army, though. What do you do? Do you go all out and attack every single city at once? Or do you focus on attacking small city, amass its resources, build a slightly bigger army, and then attack the next city? Unless you want to get crushed, you’ll go with the latter option.

Small business owners need to pick their battles wisely. Or they will get crushed. You have a relatively small bank balance, so use it prudently by picking and choosing which markets or customers you will serve. If your customers do not or cannot buy what you’re selling, then look elsewhere. Fast.

Small business owners that refuse to focus and think they can be all things to all people have got it completely wrong. Such businesses will not only bleed cash, they will also not create goodwill (or competitive advantage) because in their customers’ eyes, they won’t stand for anything.

So, my point is, focus. And set the stage for winning.

Until next week, then. We’ll talk tactics, or what specifically you can do to win. Comments and thoughts are always welcome 🙂

Faheem Moosa is DemGen’s lead strategist and developer of the Future Vision Map. He can be reached at faheem@demgen.com

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© 2012 DemGen All Rights Reserved.

“As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information” – Benjamin Disraeli

Okay. So you have a vision for your business and are implementing it step-by-step, day-by-day. Customers flock to your business and beg you to sell to them. Your products or services are exactly what they want, and are hard to get elsewhere. You’re in tune with your customers’ current and changing needs and desires…and life’s good.

If the above scenario describes your business then you’re way ahead of most business people. If not, then there are a couple of things you can do to move towards it.

This is Part 3 of the Future Vision Map series. If you missed the first two parts, check them out here. Last week we talked about how to define your future business vision, and today we will delve deeper into how to understand the market (your customers, competition, etc.) and your business (strengths and weaknesses) so you’re best positioned to implement your vision in the current (and constantly changing) circumstances.

I once asked an experienced and highly successful Canadian media entrepreneur for the single most important piece of advice he could give me. What he said to me still resonates with me even today. His words of wisdom were, “Don’t be a solution looking for a problem”. Oftentimes, as entrepreneurs, we have ‘great ideas’ and ‘visions’ and ‘business plans’. We want to implement them exactly as they are, come what may. More often than not, things don’t pan out exactly as we want them to. As Steven Blank puts it, “No business plan survives the first contact with the customer”. Once you take your idea to the street, your customers will begin to hint to you what they need and want. It’s your job to then temper your vision with what customers will actually buy!

This is not a one-time initiative, but a constant one. It goes something like this: You have a vision/idea. Get feedback from potential customers. Tweak. Go to market – test it out with a small sample of customers. Get feedback. Tweak. Go back to market again.

Along the way, it’s also important to constantly be aware of whether or not your business has the skills, knowledge and resources to deliver on the customers’ changing needs and wants.

Getting Inside Your Prospects And Customers’ Minds

Ask:

Um…yes. It’s that simple. Want to know what your customer’s want? Ask them. Pick five customers or prospects you know, and survey them one-on-one. Create mass surveys (we use surveymonkey.com, but there are several others you can use) and send them out to your email list, if you have one. If you don’t have an email list, design a survey and post it on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn pages (and others). Some people also use Google Adwords and Facebook Ads to promote their surveys (although I haven’t had much success with this tactic). For ideas to help you design your survey and what you should be asking/learning from your customers, check out Cindy Alvarez’s blog post  for a few tips.

Read:

You don’t need me to tell you there’s a gold mine of information out there on any topic, for free. A simple Google search will give you several pages of information on your market and competition. You can also check out relevant industry associations, chambers of commerce, etc. for information on your customers.

Your next stop should be to research keywords on Google (I use Google Keyword Search Tool, but others prefer other similar tools). Think of the keywords people would search for if they were searching for your product or service. Use a keyword tool to gauge the relative popularity of search terms. If no one’s searching for solutions to the problem your product/service solves, then that’s an insight in itself.

Comments on social media are also a great way to gauge trends. Search for relevant keywords on Twitter to learn what your target audience is saying. Also do a simple Google search of your keywords and look for blog posts addressing similar topics. Then look for comments on the blog posts to gauge what people are saying about the topic.

Another method that works well is that of reading Amazon reviews. Go to the Amazon page of books covering your topic and read the 1-star and 2-star reviews. These reviews will give you an idea of the problems people face in your market.
Look Inward To Deliver On Customers’ Current And Changing Needs

Once you have an idea of what customers’ actually want or need, make sure you’re aware of what it takes to deliver on those needs and wants. Focus on the following:

Knowledge: What do you need to know in order to effectively deliver your product/service to the customer? Does the customer increasingly purchase online? If yes, you need to know how to market to them online. Does the customer value service over price? If yes, do you or your team know how to provide excellent customer service?

Skills: What skills or talents do you or your people need in order to deliver on customers’ needs or wants? Analytical skills are paramount if you’re running a consulting business. If you’re running an Audio Visual installation company, sharp programming and calibrating skills may make a huge difference in today’s digital environment.

Resources: Finally, do you have what it takes to deliver on customers’ needs and wants? If sales cycles are long for your chosen market and business, do you have enough cash reserves to see you thorough lean times? If your customer insists on a physical storefront, do you have one at your disposal? Make sure appropriate resources are available before you commit to delivering your product or service.

In conclusion, the the most important point I’d like you to take away from today’s post is this: the right information can help you create the business of your dreams. Never cease seeking information, both about your customers and about your own business. The best entrepreneurs I know always keep an ear to the ground and listen not only to what’s happening around them, but also what’s happening (and required) within the four walls of their companies.

Thanks for being with me on this journey of the Future Vision Map – we’re now half way through the series. Next week, we’ll talk about strategy. You now have a vision, and you’ve validated that vision with your customers/prospects. You now need a strategy to win in the marketplace. What exactly is strategy? Wait till next week to find out!

P.S. – If you have any questions or clarifications about my ideas/thoughts in this article, let me know by posting a comment. We would love to hear from you 🙂

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© 2012 DemGen All Rights Reserved.

Faheem Moosa is DemGen’s lead business strategist and developer of the Future Vision Map. He can be reached at Faheem@demgen.com

“I dream my painting, and then paint my dream” – Vincent Van Gogh

Whether you like it or not, if you’re an entrepreneur, you’re an artist. You do what you do because you love to create. There’s an abstract of an idea in your head, and you itch to see it manifest into something tangible, something you can touch, feel and experience. No wonder, when you’re done with one business, you can’t wait to get started on the next initiative, to paint your next dream. This is your reality. You are addicted to being a visionary.

Welcome to Part 2 of the Future Vision Map series. If you missed Part 1 of the series, click here.

Well, if you’re in the business of constant visioning and creating stuff, wouldn’t you like to know how to do it better? Defining your vision is the first step to making your vision a reality. Duh!

Firstly, what is a vision? Several business owners abhor the term because they equate it with a fancily worded statement filled with business jargon that’s hung up on a wall. Let’s extricate the essence of a vision from a vision statement. A vision statement at best is the result of a brainstorming session with management headed by a consultant. Four or five statements are written and emailed out to the team, and the best one is chosen by consensus. Framed. Hung on a wall. And nobody remembers it five minutes later.

A vision, simply put, is how you see your business operating and creating value at some point in the future. A vision inspires, directs and excites your team and helps them to co-create your business.

I’m going to resist the temptation to give you examples of what a description of a business vision looks like. It could be a simple one-liner that resonates with you, or it could be a few bullet points that describe how your business operates successfully and creates value, or it could even be a picture of your choice that evokes the right emotions/reactions for you and your team. You’re an artist, so be creative with how you describe/depict/convey your vision to others.

What I will do though, is give you a framework that will help you and/or your team define your vision. This isn’t rocket science. It’s a simple framework that will help you think about what success looks like in various aspects of your business so as to give you microscopic vision for the future. There’s a caveat here: use only what makes sense to you and your business. There’s no point building a laundry list of things, confusing your team and therefore blurring your vision.

DemGen’s Six-Step Framework to Defining Your Future Business Vision:

Your Purpose: The first question you need to ask yourself why you are in business in the first place. Are you a business that aims to alleviate an existing pain in the marketplace (think 37Signal’s Basecamp, which takes away the pain of using complex project management software)? Or does your business just aim to make your customer’s lives better, not necessarily solving an existing problem (think Apple’s iPad)? As Steve Jobs put it, ask yourself how you (or your business) plan to make a dent in the universe? How are you going to change the world?

Your Business’ Financial Future: Over a period of time, say 3 or 5 years, how much sales do you envision your business bringing in? What about gross margins? Net margins? Be specific and focus on these numbers.

Your Customers: Which segment of the market do you serve in the future? What value do you create for them, or how do you make their lives easier and better? Imagine what they say or how they react when they use your product or service. Imagine people flocking to your business location or website and purchasing your product or service – and being blown away by the difference it makes in their lives.

Your People: What do people in your company do when nobody’s looking? That’s culture. What is the ideal culture you wish to cultivate in your company? What skills, attributes, and attitudes would your people need in order for you to build a high-performance company?

How Your Business Works: Imagine you’re an outside observer of your own business, whether it’s a brick-and-mortar company or a virtual one.  How do things happen at the business? What systems, rules and procedures make your business tick? What technology do you use?

The Evolution: What’s the end-game? Do you wish to sell the company, or keep building and building further? In other words, what do you wish the next evolutionary phase of your company to be? What role do you see yourself playing in this new stage?

So there you have it. Hopefully this framework will put you on a path to defining what you wish your business’ future to be. The best entrepreneurs know how to temper their unique vision for their business with market realities. In other words, if their initial vision or hypothesis isn’t working out, they decisively pivot into a business model that works or resonates with customers and, more importantly, drives revenue and profits. As an artist, you will intuitively do the same.

So now, go ahead and start dreaming about your painting.

Heads up for next week: We will deep dive into the next phase of the Future Vision Map, which includes studying our internal and external business environments, so we can come up with the best strategy to achieve our future vision. In the meantime, I’ll see you in the comments!

Faheem Moosa is DemGen’s lead business strategist and developer of the Future Vision Map. He can be reached at Faheem@demgen.com