In the various Marketing Groups I attend, there occasionally is a person who finds out what I do and makes the offhand statement that “Things are pretty busy. I don’t need Send Out Cards”
Yeah, maybe you don’t. Glad for you that things are busy my friend. That’s what we all hope for each other, for our fellow Entrepreneurs. Congratulations. Glad you’ve got the world by the tail. Don’t suppose it’s ever crossed your mind that conditions may change, demand may vary, technology may change and if you don’t change with it you’ll be out. At one time there was a booming business fOT Blacksmiths. Every town had at least one and they were busy business people. Do you see many Blacksmiths today, outside of Silver Dollar City or Branson? Wagon Wheel makers had a captive audience when the whole country travelled by covered wagon and wheels wore out with amazing regularity. Can you even find a wagon wheel dealer? They didn’t think it could happen to them- but it did.
So Blacksmiths and Covered Wagon Wheels are too ancient history for you. Consider what happened to Eastman Kodak. Huge in the 70’s and 80’s. Gone now. At one time, Kodak was one of the largest corporations making a boat load of different film. There was consumer photographic film, pro film used by photographers, even industrial film for hospital radiology departments. Of course with every roll of film sold that film had to be developed. They were so big, it seemed nothing could ever go south for them. Not the mighty Eastman Kodak, right? Kodak seemed like they were set for life. Maybe forever. Then along comes this little something called digital imaging sure at first the digital images were not nearly as good as film because film had better resolution. But as the mega pixel count continued to improve with each generation of digital cameras, the pictures got better and better. People began to muse that they could take as many pictures as they wanted, something you didn’t do with film unless you had an unlimited film budget like a newspaper photographer or a Sports Illustrated contributor.
With expansions of memory cards photographers could snap all kinds of pictures and immediately delete the unwanted ones and voila- you had your picture capacity regenerated. Kodak is all but gone. Polaroid went the same way, but has recently made a comeback.
As your Mother would say, “Let this be a lesson to you”. No matter how much it seems that your business could ever not be needed (I.e. Blacksmithing) or that you’ve cornered the market (Wagon Wheels), or that you are so large and omnipresent (I.e. Eastman Kodak) it could still happen to you.
The secret sauce for Send Out Cards is the constantly changing landscape of the human condition. By reaching out with a little flair and a sense of humor, you will constantly ingratiate yourself to the public. We call it “Appreciation you can touch” Reach out to Ralph at ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com.
Ralph Harold
816-808-2465