Whenever there is disruption in your marketplace, or your personal life; it is important that you’re ready to pivot.
It’s good for your business resilience to have some preparation in place so that you’re able to adapt whenever there’s a significant change in your personal circumstances or in your marketplace. This type of alteration is called pivoting.
Introduction to pivoting
The term “to pivot” was first introduced into the language of business development by Eric Reiss in his book “Lean Startup” (2011). In it, he defines pivoting as “a change in strategy, without a change in vision”. It is a stage which every new business should consider, whether you’re a disciple of his lean start-up approach or not. Personally, I subscribe to Reiss’ thinking since his lean methods fit well with my own preference for thrifty marketing. If you’re an avid reader of my content, you will know that pure Marketing recommends that your strategy should not change, only your tactics can be altered. That’s because your strategy must contain your vision. Where do you want to get to? When might it be appropriate for you to pivot?
Anticipate Making Changes
How to prepare to pivot when circumstances change
It’s good for your business resilience to have some preparation in place so that you’re able to adapt whenever there’s a significant change in your personal circumstances or in your marketplace. This type of alteration is called pivoting.
Introduction to pivoting
The term “to pivot” was first introduced into the language of business development by Eric Reiss in his book “Lean Startup” (2011). In it, he defines pivoting as “a change in strategy, without a change in vision”. It is a stage which every new business should consider, whether you’re a disciple of his lean start-up approach or not. Personally, I subscribe to Reiss’ thinking since his lean methods fit well with my own preference for thrifty marketing. If you’re an avid reader of my content, you will know that pure Marketing recommends that your strategy should not change, only your tactics can be altered. That’s because your strategy must contain your vision. Where do you want to get to? When might it be appropriate for you to pivot?
Reiss describes his model for developing a new business with the steps:
- Build (if you’re already trading you’ve completed this step)
- Measure – You need to examine your achievement closely. Did it match your expectations? What did and didn’t work?
- Learn – Do you have a profitable solution for customers as you’d hoped? Was demand sufficient?
- Pivot – This is when you might consider a change of direction for your business.
My recommendations for being prepared to pivot are inspired by cheetahs. These big cats are known for their speed, but they do not only use that super-power when they hunt. They have other options from which to choose the best method on the day. To be ready to pivot you can review your performance regularly just like a cheetah assesses its energy reserves after each high-speed kill, prior to dragging its quarry to woodland shade to eat it far from any rivals. You can include a Marketing Audit with PEST and SWOT into your quarterly review process to ensure that you allocate your resources efficiently and enjoy optimal foraging.
Next, you can incorporate a readiness for adaptation into your processes. A cheetah knows that when it drags its prey into the shade it will have the option to rest if needed, prior to finding its next meal, which will probably be a smaller mammal grabbed at ground level while the cheetah is lying down. If it suits your audience, you can consider choosing digital marketing solutions instead of physical communication tools, since these can be altered quickly in the event that you adapt your message. Digital solutions have helped businesses to adapt to the new social norms, arising from COVID-19, for example: pubs like Wetherspoons have leveraged apps to permit pre-ordering which eliminates a crush at the bar, restaurants are using technology from yo yo to use QR codes to produce the menu on the customer’s device which eliminates non-essential contact with menus. In San Francisco, a start-up firm has produced an app for the restaurant industry which allows wholesalers to pivot to consumers (Startup application cheetah permits food wholesalers to pivot to serve consumers as restaurants close.
Local business survives by pivoting).
If you require any guidance on digital marketing solutions, I recommend that you consider reading some of these digital marketing blogs https://freshonline.net/blog/