How Adaptable Is Your Business?

Changes in the scope of job functions, where work is conducted, how work is performed and the ways that workers are managed are being re-imagined daily. The nature of work itself is changing and that means your marketing must be adaptable.

So how do you plan for the un-plannable so your business survives and thrives? Maybe you don’t. Perhaps you’re better off asking a different question: How do I shape my career, business and marketing at this point to adapt to constantly changing work and economic conditions?

I’ve always been inspired by associates who have sustained adaptable, entrepreneurial careers for decades. Their interests and curiosity, new opportunities, changes in the marketplace, and client requests guide their business transitions. In my case, these same influences change what I do through my company, resulting in co-founding startups and even providing chances to acquire equity in another entrepreneur’s ventures.

The way I’ve done this and adjusted my marketing efforts concurrently has been by pursuing continuing education, doing a lot of reading, listening more than talking, experimenting in new fields, being alert to opportunities, as well as accepting some risk and failure. I firmly believe that we must adopt entrepreneurial thinking and adaptable businesses to succeed. Your marketing flows with this mindset.

There are many marketing benefits from positioning yourself for an adaptable career to spot opportunities and operate at the forefront of trends. How many of the following actions are you taking regularly?

·?????? Reading about trends and developments within and on the fringes of your current industry and areas of expertise.

·?????? Listening to colleagues, influencers, friends, network contacts, clients and leaders inside, as well as on the periphery, of your profession and industry to pick up on emerging needs.

·?????? Consistently adding new skills and knowledge to enhance your ability to successfully pursue opportunities.

·?????? Interacting with and expanding your business network to position yourself for referrals, references, offers and advice.

·?????? Experimenting with your career by testing new interests in different ways within and outside your areas of expertise.

·?????? Building your personal brand and marketing yourself or your business to prepare for lost clients, evaporating contracts and shifting marketplaces.

·?????? Developing a flexible mindset with your career so that you always are devising ways to make it align with future changes.

·?????? Asking probing questions about your own and industry assumptions, the relevance of your expertise, the future of your clients, etc. to prevent a wondering, “Why didn’t I see that coming?” in the future.

All of these actions can help ensure that your marketing efforts are adapting to fit the evolution and expansion of your services. There’s great value in adopting a startup style entrepreneurial mindset. This is because you are the product and service competing for relevance and value in the changing marketplace.

Adaptability will help you thrive in the chaotic intersection of business and marketing.

Excerpt from Smart Marketing for Solopreneurs and Microbusinesses by Douglas Freeman, available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GV55XJR?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_BR83A5H13WK2G85TV3BQ_1

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