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Moving Foreward in 2010

Written by Wes DeKoninck on January 5, 2010 | 0 Comments

Another decade down and one that most of us would like to forget. Sure there were some good things, but all in all, the first decade of the 2000’s was filled with war, steady economic uncertainty and was capped with a colossal crash of our stock market, housing market, and job market. As a business owner, I have had to sharpen my pencil and think of ways to move forward with less capital and while using less resources.

But that was last year. This year is a new year, a new decade, a fresh start to what will hopefully be a bright future. The last 10 years have given me a large list of lessons learned that will be used to better my business, better serve my clients, and help us all overcome the challenges of the next decade.

Ideas for your business

Just as I am trying to better my business and find new and cheaper ways to operate and be successful, all of you should be doing the same. We are constantly trying to do more with less, because less is all we have right now! But it will not always be this way, the gloom will pass, business will return and hopefully so will profits and success. But the downturn in the last 10 years can help us be better in the next 10 years by showing us what goals we can achieve and exactly what resources it will take to reach those goals.

Once such idea is that of reduced advertising costs. Most businesses advertise with a large number of sources: newspapers, trade-journals, phone books, billboards, direct mail, television, radio, and websites. Have you really studied the impact that each of these types of advertisement has on gaining your business customers? In working in retail, I have felt the decline in interest in most of the advertising methods listed above, with the exception of one…websites.

Websites can be the core of your advertising and cost a considerable amount less than most advertising methods. They offer more information than most traditional advertising and can be viewed in more places than ever before. Your website can be accessed by individuals from anywhere in the world…how far will your direct mail, phone book, and newspaper ads get you? Websites allow your customers to find you easily via search engines and learn about your products whenever they want, not just when they tune into a specific television channel or tune into their favorite radio station.

The next 10 years will provide more advancements in technology making it easier than ever to access your business information via the internet, a method that is rapidly growing among generation Y. This generation is FULL of your next customers and is more expansive than the baby boom generation with a higher understanding and dependence upon technology and using it to access information on the go. Website advertisement also allows you to continually update your business and product information keeping customers interested in what you are doing and how it will benefit them, on a minute-by-minute basic.

If you have not taken the steps toward a web presence, you are missing out on loads of potential customers and reduced advertising cost. The new year and decade has begun. Will you take a step forward or stay in the past?

I am excited to see what this decade has in store for Gradient Graphics and if you would like to see how we can help you in 2010, please Contact Us and together we will continue to grow!