They may already be your customers.
 
Kids today! They spend too much time on the computer. That may be true but it’s a reality your business better be prepared to face.
 
The kids pictured here know how to find what they want online. They know how to find good deals online too. Admittedly, these girls may be a little young to be buying from your business but they do have influence on the credit card holders of their families.
 
Even if your business produces aircraft parts or exotic chemicals, these kids will be buyers very soon and their way is the information super highway.
 
Assuming your customer service is excellent, if you make only one New Year’s resolution for your business, it should be to increase your online presence. Your business needs a website with interactivity. You must have dynamic content. That means content that is ever changing. It’s no longer enough to throw up a pretty site and forget about it.
 
I also recommend participating in the numerous discussion groups. The battle for market share will be fought online. If you’re smart, you’ll allocate budget dollars to enhance your online image. Even the smallest companies can compete with the biggest if management understands how important this is. It’s inexcusable for companies large enough to actually have an advertising budget to not have, at minimum, a part-time person working the online community. Oddly, the companies that can afford to do more online marketing won’t do it. They’ll waste money on comfortable but ineffective conventional advertising regardless of return. This gives the smaller businesses a great advantage. There are dozens of free avenues to getting your message out. It takes time and skill, not money. If you haven’t got the time or the skill you can buy both.
 
Better think hard about this. 2008 isn’t going to be an easy year. There are lots of inexpensive ways to chip away at your competitor’s customer base. And yours. Which will it be?
 
Happy New Year
 
Chris Reich, Author of TeachU’s Business Talk Blog