Niche businesses are terrific until they are not. If you run a business with a narrow target market or far more-focused offering than your competitors, you are in a niche business. Just look around the Madison, Wisconsin area: Placon focuses on heat-treated plastic (thermoformed) packaging – not cardboard, glass, injection-molded plastic, or other types of packaging. All Placon investments advance excelling at thermoforming packaging; none are diverted. First Business Bank serves businesses and their owners, not businesses and consumers. “They know business” is a terrific brand promise. American Girl sells to pre-teen girls and their doting moms, not boys. You get the picture. Because they are more narrowly targeted than broader businesses, niche businesses can tailor their offerings, investments, and operating systems to deliver differentiated customer value—allowing them to build a very solid customer base. There is a reason Duluth Trading does not…
Use new information technologies to transform your business models
The newest information technologies on the block – social, mobile, cloud and data analytics – can and should do more than boost your organization’s efficiency. Far more than past IT innovations, these new technologies can positively transform your organization – where it competes, why it wins and how it operates. Smart leaders understand this. Meet one in this blog. As a young but experienced telecommunications industry professional, Nancy Peckham founded Madison, Wisconsin-based Valicom in 1991 to help companies reduce telecommunication costs. Valicom’s value promise for its direct services is very powerful: “We average 30.4% savings in telecom expenses across our client base,” according to CEO Peckham. Her company produces this savings by helping clients better manage the complex supply chain associated with providing their workforces with wired and wireless voice and data communications, internet connections, and wireless services. As device options and mobile…