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Ignoring Entrepreneurs
The two biggest announcements from my local chamber this year were that Caterpillar is adding 75,000 square feet to it’s Waco plant and we’re getting a diaper plant. I’m sure these types of announcements are pretty common with chambers across America. Chambers love big business because they pay more in chambers dues than does an individual entrepreneur. I have nothing against Caterpillar or diaper plants, but shouldn’t chambers spend at least as much time fostering entrepreneurial creativity as they do courting manufacturing jobs?
In The Brand Bubble
“Richard Florida argues in The Creative Class that those cities that cater to creative individuals working in high technology, education, publishing, medicine, law, and artistic endeavours will be the ones to succeed in the future.”
It’s my experience that entrepreneurs provide that creative spirit. What are the community leaders doing for entrepreneurs in your community? Do chambers really care about fostering entrepreneurship anymore?
The Year of the Death of the Death of Things
Marketers really love to declare “The Year of” and “The Death of” things. The latest thing that is evidently dead, according to Tara Hunt, is branding. She says that we are in the “Post-Branding Era.” But most things in marketing don’t just die. Real death is instantaneous and permanent. Death in marketing is not. Instead it’s more of a slow, lingering tapering off. Traditional advertising has been declared dead for a couple of years now, but it still lives, yielding new customers for local advertisers who use it correctly.
I’m hoping we’ll see fewer of these “Death of” pronouncements this year, but probably not. Even so, there will be things that are not as weighty in 2010 as they were in 2009. So what do you think will be less relevant?
What’s the Value of Predictions?
Last week, Austin Social Media Breakfast had a predictions-fest of sorts. They invited 10 local social media experts to forecast what was going to happen in 2010. Predictions are fun to do, and they’re fun to hear. But what’s their real value? I think the value of predictions is not necessarily what you need to do now, but the trends they will bring. Predictions are about new things, cutting edge things. Small businesses need to deal in the here and now. Most of your customers are not on the cutting edge.
What predictions and trends do you think are important for your business?
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