Demographics don’t lie. They are one of the few external trends shaping organizational outcomes around which there is little if any controversy. The baby boom is aging. The voting electorate is getting more diverse. A critical question facing business models therefore is “What will be the impact of demographic trends on our future success?” The answer depends upon context. Lima, a small city in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, has a median age of 79. It suffered a 15% decline in population from 2000 to 2010. City officials and local businesses clearly have an issue! On the other hand, a large city with one of the oldest populations (Scottsdale, Arizona) experienced a 7.2% growth in population over the same period. Here, demographics work to city government and local business advantage, as Scottsdale attracts new residents by positioning itself as a retirement hub. It…
Smart business models start with the right target market decision
Never let market size fool you into making a misconceived target market choice. Social media pioneer Ning wisely gave up its Facebook-inspired dream of success with millions of consumers to serve a much smaller set of business customers instead. In making the change, its customer base grew from 17,000 to over 100,000 according to Fortune Magazine, while the certainty of paid subscriptions replaced uncertain advertising revenue. Ning’s software enables its customers to launch and run their own private social network with employees, customers, fans or suppliers. The switch from consumers to organizations emerged from the CEO shutting down Ning’s free service. Consumers jumped ship for one of the 125 plus free social media Facebook clones. With a narrower but relatively under-served target market, Ning was free to add services that deepen and differentiate its value to business customers. Additions include analytics for the…