Recently, I was able to interview a local business leader about her business. I'm going to leave her name out, but she brought up a very interesting point about small businesses.

Now as a disclaimer, this post will be mostly my own thoughts on the topic as well as my initial reactions based off of the notes I took during the interview.

When I got to her place of business, I began asking her questions about the business: history, where it came from, how it started, what the environment was like, ups and downs, market highs and lows, product, customer, relationships.

These were a few of the questions I used to guide my interview:

Current Business Landscape?
Their Market?
Their Product?
What they’re selling?
How they’re selling?
Length in Market?
Changes Product (Adaptation)?
Rises and Falls; changing landscape?
Flagstaff Business Landscape?
Trends and Change?
Competition (Perceived)?
With their Product?
Their Business?
Thoughts on their Competition?

It's all very fascinating. And learning about on this level is making me more and more excited about about majoring in business.

Let me explain.

Each business has a 'business model.' Usually set and adhered to by the business owner. Business models' sole purpose is to address the business 'landscape' or 'market.' Now, how successful the business model turns out to be is another question entirely.

All businesses follow a certain path in their lifetime, small businesses are no different, just at a reduced scale. However, there are many small businesses who get stuck in the established stage. Business owners fall into the established staging and never continue to the expansion stage.

Stages of Business

It is only after a business reaches maturity can they have the comfort of choosing to expand or exit the market. The established stage is an illusion for the maturity stage. But the difference between the two can make or break the business.

The established stage is the point where you 'catch your breath' however, many business owners stop walking; in fact, they slowly let their once successful business model, fall apart and deteriorate.

The maturity stage is only reached once you 'catch your breath' after running and making your business successful, you continue to jog. You continue to improved your business after it's successful. This state of 'constant improvement' is the maturity level. At this point in time, you will be dealing with increased competition, business choices, and stress.

With that being said, many small businesses fail because of that. But, there are businesses who are doing well, addressing different customers as well as selling a different type of product.

DISCLAIMER: Take these with a grain of salt as these are from what I've seen as well as the local business owners I've talked to.

First on the list is the local farmers market and the recently opened Sprouts Farmers Market. A few years ago, Flagstaff Farmer's Market over on 4th street was one of the only places in town that was established and could cater to the 'localvore' health conscious residents here.

That was the case since 1990. 25 years later, that isn't the case anymore.

Natural Grocers, Whole Foods (Previously New Frontiers), Sprouts Farmers Market, Safe-Way, etc. Under the new-age wave of health-foods and organics have risen up to compete for the market that is Flagstaff, AZ. All these big businesses have a lot of experience, highly versatile business models, the name, and the marketing to back it up.

And Flagstaff Farmer's Market has been left in the dust. During peak times of grocery shopping, FFM is barren.

Ultimately, this is just business, pure and simple. Nothing more, nothing less. Because of the lack of expansion to address a wider, and developing audience, FFM fell behind. This is a mom-and-pop, locally-owned business that has been open for almost 25 years.

I give them 3-5 more years before they close their doors...

To be Continued in Part 2

"People use the internet for information."

When people hop on to the internet, they primarily use it as a source of information. And in this day and age, the Internet is becoming the main source that people use, especially Google.

But, like any good source, it will only give you the information you are looking for or, by extension, information that you might be interested in.

For example, if I'm searching for dogs, I might be a dog person, and if I'm searching for suits, then I might be a person who wears suits. Now, as a person who appreciates suits and dogs, without searching for it, I might appreciate coming across this handsome devil right here:

Or not, depending on what I'm interested in or would be interested in. Meaning this could peak my interest in searching for canine-related clothing. Afterwards, I might go on a 'searching' spree of Dog Suits.

This is the backbone of what online marketing is.

First, figuring out what your customer wants to find out, providing that information.

Next, predicting what your client might want to find out and providing that information, and then some.

Some of the best websites out there present predicted content to searchers on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or any other site. The people click on it, absorb the content, reflect on what they have learned. But, what they don't know is that every good article or piece of information that's optimized for the business, doesn't have all the information located on one page, or else it would be an encyclopedia set. Even Wikipedia, the Internet's premier encyclopedia with it's 4.5 million plus articles is organized by title.

With that being said, every good piece of information on the internet doesn't have all the information contained within it. However, what it does is make finding new information extremely easy, especially if those new pieces of information keep you on that website.

This varies across businesses and your strategy will be different. A local coffee shop's online presence is going to be drastically different than a lawyer's or a restaurant's firm.

Marketing, alone, consists of buying ads, spending money, researching competition, and figuring out your market. Online marketing is all of that, except the foundation in which you start, is your content and online presence.

What information you choose to create your online presence is important, but how you choose to present that information is just as important.

I'll cover the how in my next post.

Until next time,
Josh