- Futurpreneur(s) and partners
How to Use the Kaizen Approach for Marketing
Written By: Tim Rudkins, Small Business Coach & Solopreneur
In an earlier article about New Year’s Resolutions for a Small Business Owner I said that this is a good time of year to review your business model, see what’s working and make any changes you feel need doing. While doing that for this business (Small Business Solutions), I decided that one of the things I needed to gain a better understanding of was marketing.
I decided that I would revisit Jay Levinson’s Guerilla Marketing. I had used and recommended one of the best books out there for quick lessons for small business, Guerilla Marketing in 30 Days many times, but had never read his other books. They would surely give me some pointers on areas that I was missing or things that I should change outright. Perhaps a whole new path which is always exciting, particularly for someone like me who often has the patience and focus of a gnat!
Near the start of the book, Levinson talks about his 16 secrets to how you should look at or approach marketing. Three of these secrets struck home for me, particularly as I just passed the first year for this new business. Here’s the three, how they relate, and my take on them for my business.
- Investment
Marketing is like any other capital investment. It takes time and the return on that investment doesn’t always come in the first year. Think slow and steady. - Consistent
Don’t change your identity. Keep plugging away with a consistent message. It takes time and there is no reason to change horse’s mid-stream. - Augment
Continue to improve and add to your marketing arsenal. The competition is doing it and so should you.
For me and this business, this means that I should keep blogging and talking about what I know and have to offer. I am going to learn more about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and social media, and going to look at developing email marketing more, video marketing and perhaps write a book about solopreneurs.
Slow and steady. Improve and augment. The approach reminds me a great deal of the Japanese quality approach called Kaizen (“good change” in Japanese) in which quality and success is seen as an incremental, daily process. That same approach was the one that basically lifted the Japanese economy out of the destruction of World War II and into a leadership role in the world economy. Not bad lessons from Mr. Levinson and the Japanese and something we can all learn and relate to in this world of instant results.