Strategies for creative business development and growth using Ansoff’s Matrix (or Ansoff Matrix). When advising creative and digital businesses about strategic marketing and growth, this tool is useful to consider different options. In a Masterclass I gave on creative business development in Ukraine, there was a question about developing new products for new markets, which …
Category: General
Devise a REAL Business Strategy
Most so-called “business strategies” are in reality just audacious goals and ambitious growth targets, bundled with a ‘vision of the future’, then packaged as a ‘business strategy’. A REAL business strategy is different. A real business strategy is a clever solution to a particular challenge or problem. A creative manoeuvre. The problem must be understood …
Five Forces of Competition
When I advise clients and ask about competition, their first answers are about immediate competitors in their industry; other companies offering broadly similar products or services in the same market place. This is valid of course, and we need to assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of such competitors using techniques such as Charting the …
Create Your Own Business Formula
Don’t write a business plan until you have read this article! The article in English is reproduced in full below. It can also be downloaded as a PDF document in English and ten other languages. Creativity and Business Some people regard creativity and business as being like oil and water – they just don’t mix. …
Blue Ocean Strategy
Instead of competing within an industry, invent a new industry. Competitive strategy traditionally focuses on competition within an industry with corporations competing for market share. Chan and Mauborgne refer to this as ‘Red Ocean Strategy’, ie a blood-filled ocean of competitors fighting one another. Instead of competing within an industry, some firms have successfully invented …
Dance at Work
Here’s an eBook that’s highly recommended for people who want to combine their creative passion with smart business techniques – that combination I call ‘T-Shirts and Suits’. ‘Dance at Work. The Creative Business Toolkit’ is written by Helen Baxter, a creative entrepreneur based in Wellington, New Zealand. Helen’s book is excellent for entrepreneurs who want …
The ‘3Ms of Marketing’ for creative businesses
The best way to illustrate the technique of using the 3Ms of Marketing most effectively is to use a true story. Julie, a jeweller, asked me for some marketing advice. With a limited budget for marketing communications, she couldn’t decide whether to invest in a better website or in a printed brochure to promote her …
Your Competitive Advantage
What’s your Competitive Advantage? Knowing what you can excel at in relation to competitors – and then building your business strategy around that focus – is probably the most important element of any successful business strategy. If you are competing in a market place by offering the same thing as many other rivals, then you …
Increase prices with a winning marketing strategy
Devising a successful marketing strategy leads to charging higher prices for your creative products and services. It also works the other way around. If you increase your prices, you will have to devise an improved marketing strategy. Whichever way you tackle it, you can increase prices with a winning marketing strategy. This is because a …
Crowd Funding video
Here’s a video about crowd funding (or ‘crowd financing’) for projects and businesses in the creative industries. For more information about crowd funding for creative projects, see ‘Raising Finance by Crowd Funding’ and a related article ‘Iron Sky: A Crowd Sourced Movie‘. Embed this video in your own website or blog from the T-Shirts and …