Did You Dance on Main Street to Promote Your Business in the New Economy?

Not too long ago, people would consume, even if they did not need or demand what you sold, as long as what you sold was at a good price. With this outlook, businesses would create a supply of goods and services, and then go search for demand that would absorb the supply.

Due to a wide variety of factors including the recent boom bust cycle of several industries (the technology industry, the housing industry, the mortgage industry, and the investment banking industry), the over-spending by federal and state governments, and the excessive money printing by the Federal Reserve Bank, our economy is now facing high unemployment rates and a reduction of credit all all levels.

All of these factors have led to the sponge of consumption drying up and along with dramatic changes in the spending habits of both consumers and business.

The longer this condition lasts, the more people will have ingrained in their psyche that they will have to deal with less money, for the rest of their life, and only consume what they need, not what they want. More and more Americans are joining the ranks of what is being called simplifiers; people who are downsizing, simplifying their lives, and living below their means.

Today, the only way for a small business on Main Street to survive, is to understand demand and align their capacity to meet demand in order to generate the most profits.

Meeting this type of demand does not make innovation any less important. Opportunities are created by finding ways to deliver goods and services more efficiently and effectively; technology and re-engineered business processes and business models are key enablers of this type of innovation.

For example, on the consumer side, people have always liked and listened to music. However no one knew for sure they would like to take music with them so no one went to Sony and said "make music portable". This is an example of a type of consumer demand that was not expressed but once innovation occurred and music was provided with the portable radio and the Walkman, demand exploded.

Providing consumers with things they don't yet know they need requires equal measures of imagination, realism, and innovation.

Understanding demand requires knowledge of macro-economic trends, demographics, and the psyche of individuals in the various market sectors. Also, finding solutions to big and complicated problems generates great business opportunities.

Analysis of these trends, psyche, and problems, leads to considering opportunities in deep wells of demand in this parched marketplace.

These include solutions for the 10-15% of the US population, and even greater percentage outside of the US, that do not have bank accounts; the 1/3 of the US population that is over-weight, or the approx 14% of the worldwide population that does not have access to safe drinking water.

It is estimated that the exploding wellness industry will generate over $1 trillion in the sale of goods and services for those wishing to pursue providing solutions for this industry. By re-engineering how healthcare is provided and innovating with technology to provide electronic medical records, one type of opportunity on the drawing boards are storefront healthcare locations, staffed by nurses, co-owned by nurses and entrepreneurs, providing basic healthcare services.

Here are several more big trend areas for consideration.

The aging population. With baby-boomers hitting old age and terrified of nursing homes, entrepreneurs are dreaming up ways to keep the elderly healthy and in their homes.

Eco-friendly homes. Along the theme of downsizing and simplifying, mentioned previously in this blog post, homeowners are switching from supersized McMansions and demanding smaller and greener homes.

Financial services. With fees going through the rough, services charges appearing for no reason, and lousy service, there has to be a better way to bank.

Organic and locally produced food. With tainted burgers, contaminated eggs, and e.coli scares, more and more Americans are looking close to their home for food.

These areas provide an example and can be used to get the brainstorming and masterminding underway. What is key is the need to understand who the customers are, what they want, and what they are willing to pay. You then scale up the business to supply the goods and services to meet the demand.

Also, don't forget to dance on Main Street to promote your business in this New Demand Economy as you want your brand to outlast the product that launched your new business.

Why dance on Main Street?

In previous articles, examples were provided of campaigns that outlasted the product that launched them. These include: A Diamond Is Forever, Does She or Doesn't She, and the Geyser from Coke and Mintos.

Another recent campaign that has gone viral and is outlasting the product that launched it is Dancing in the Tube!

In January 2009, the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi launched "Life's for Sharing" campaign for all of T_Mobile's new 4G products and services. This campaign included flash mobs, which are groups who assemble briefly in public to perform some kind of action. For this campaign, it was a smartly choreographed dance routine in the middle of a London Tube station and the video became a YouTube phenomenon.

It is too early to tell but after tens of millions of page views on YouTube, there is no doubt that commercialization flash mobs works ... so don't forget to use a flash mob to dance on Main Street and promote the launch of your product or service in the New Demand Economy.

Of course, be sure to make a video of the dance, upload it to YouTube, and tell everyone you know so your flash mob dance on Main Street used to promote your product goes viral like Dancing in the Tube!

Today's social media tools are great for business building, provided that the small business owner and their employees know how to use them for the company's ultimate benefit.

Ultimately, when small businesses know how they are supposed to use today's social media tools, they can do so with focus and purpose, leading the small business confidently into the communication age.

I Hope You Enjoy the Articles and I Trust You Will Find Them Insightful! Let me Know What You Think.

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